The 5th ADDIS AGROFOOD & Pack Agriculture, Agriculture Machineries, Food, Food Technologies & Packaging Fair Exhibition opened yesterday at the Millennium Hall in the capital. This year, there are 74 local and international exhibitors in attendance.
With delegates from Turkey, Germany, India, and the Netherlands and locally, hundreds of people took part on the opening day of the exhibition. More are expected to take part this weekend making the event an important agricultural hub for those looking to invest in Ethiopia’s agricultural sector and those looking for partners within Ethiopia.
To encourage the participations of local farmers and meet their counterparts from abroad, the organizers decided to absorb all costs associated with local participants. This year, six Ethiopian exhibitors are attending. The exhibition has introduced state-of-the-at agricultural technologies to the nation, including investors that eventually showed interest and invested in Ethiopia. Last year’s event saw, as Bosh, a German based coffee and pastry packaging firm and Ankara pasta opened shop in Ethiopia.
The country with a fast growing population of 100 million people and being the second most populous in the continent, it continuously attracts foreign investors from abroad. This has pushed the economy to be one of the fastest growing in the region. Agriculture remains vital to the nation, as it is the contributor for 46 percent of the nation’s GDP, its 80 percent of exports and the total employment.
Ethiopia has one of the largest agricultural areas in Africa and imports a vast majority of its food products from aboard putting much pressure on the need of foreign exchanges.
