A Week in the Horn 21.03.2025
Ethiopia participated in the first BRICS Agricultural Working Group technical meeting, held in Brasília from March 12–14. The meeting featured substantive discussions on agriculture and food security policies and programs in BRICS countries.
Represented by Ambassador Leulseged Tadesse, Head of Mission at the Embassy of Ethiopia in Brazil, Ethiopia shared its experiences in “family farming” and “mechanized agriculture.” The meeting also marked the near conclusion of negotiations on the Agriculture Ministerial Declaration.
With a particular focus on food and nutrition security, sustainable agricultural production, and trade, Brazil’s BRICS presidency has prioritized agriculture as a key area. Apart from Brazil, a global leader in agricultural development, BRICS countries collectively account for 44 percent of global grain production, totaling 1.23 billion metric tons. The Agricultural Working Group technical meeting provided a platform to coordinate the comparative advantages and strengths of BRICS countries to advance the shared agenda of food security and agricultural growth.
Ethiopia used the opportunity to showcase its Cluster Farming approach, which groups small-scale farmers into clusters based on geographic proximity, shared resources, or common agricultural activities. This model promotes collective action, economies of scale, and efficient resource utilization. Ethiopia also highlighted the Yelemat Tirufat initiative, which aims to accelerate efforts toward achieving food and nutritional security at both the family and national levels.
Additionally, under the theme of agricultural mechanization, Ethiopia shared insights into its ancient agricultural heritage while emphasizing its urgent drive to mechanize agriculture. This effort aims to address declining productivity, land degradation, and low resilience to natural challenges. To achieve its target of producing one billion quintals of crops by 2030, Ethiopia is working to scale up irrigation systems and technologies, supply 2.3 million quintals of improved seeds, enhance fertilizer distribution to 32.9 million quintals, and increase the number of tractors to 38,008 and combine harvesters to 14,500. Ethiopia also called for intra-BRICS cooperation to boost local production of agricultural inputs and equipment, expand agricultural financing, and strengthen collaboration in agricultural training, research, and development.
Ethiopia’s proposals for the BRICS Ministerial Declaration on Agriculture were fully adopted with unanimous support. These proposals focus on tangible intra-BRICS cooperation in three key areas: sustainable solutions for soil acidity and alkalinity, enhanced collaboration in irrigation and trade, and the manufacturing of fertilizers. The declaration is expected to be formally adopted during the Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture, scheduled for April 17, 2025.