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Wheat Farming Drive in Ethiopia Gathers Pace as Shortages Bite

  • About 600,000 additional hectares of wheat planted in 2022
  • US sees target to stop imports next year as ‘very unrealistic’
Ethiopia expects to harvest 2.4 million tons of wheat this year.

Ethiopia expects to harvest 2.4 million tons of wheat this year.

Photographer: Islam Safwat/Bloomberg

Ethiopia’s wheat output will jump 70% this year as the populous Horn of Africa nation ramps up production to shelter itself from supply chain woes linked to the war in Ukraine and a drought at home, according to the agriculture ministry.

Ethiopia expects to harvest 2.4 million tons of wheat this year, compared with 1.42 million ton production in 2021. The ministry sees the national deficit shrinking to just 400,000 tons this year after covering an additional 600,000 hectares with wheat. The new acreage is in addition to the 187,000 hectares that came on line in 2021.