The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), one of the three Rome-based UN agencies, has agreed to provide USD 40 million as part of the USD 305.7 million co-financing needed to back the Rural Financial Intermediation Program the Government of Ethiopia is about to implement.

In a bid to supply a total of 600,000 metric tons of wheat to the Ethiopian government, two firms have given the lowest total offer of 3.88 billion birr, The Reporter has learnt.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has financially backed Soufflet Malt Ethiopia – a subsidiary of the French-based Gruope Soufflet – with EUR 20 million to help expand the company’s malt production and for its role involving some 40,000 smallholder farmers in the value chain.

The first quarter of the fiscal year [2012/13 EC] has fetched some USD 723 million in export revenue, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

The Italian Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Federation (FederUnacoma) aims at strengthening its presence in Sub-Saharan Africa with special emphasis on Ethiopia and Nigeria.

German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), has launched an award to recognize innovative ideas within the farmers of Ethiopia worth EUR 50,000.

A development and environmental scholar, Atkyelesh G.M. Persson has found out that foreign large-scale firms engaged in the Ethiopian agricultural sector have failed to deliver on productions and argued that most of the companies studied have been found to meet the minimum standards of a “responsible investors”, The Reporter has learnt.

The Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education (SAFE) commenced its biennial continental technical workshop on Wednesday, aiming to conceptualize the process of mainstreaming Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) filed level extension over African Universities and Agricultural Colleges.

The Ethiopian Agricultural Business Corporation is to procure 100,000 metric tons of different kinds of fertilizers, The Reporter has learnt.The fertilizers include NPS, NPSB and NPSZnB.

The Government of Ethiopia has taken the decision on the much-delayed Yayu Fertilizer Project, pinching it away from the maligned state-owned military-industrial conglomerate, the Metals ans Engineering Corporation (MetEC), and awarding it to the Moroccan fertilizer and phosphate maker, OCP.