Nation set to conserve millions of hectars

Addis Ababa, October 25 (WIC) – Ethiopia set to carry out basin development and environmental conservation activities on close to 13 million hectares of land this budget year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).
MoA Public Relations Senior Expert, Daniel Dentamo, told WIC today preparations are underway to fence 7 million hectares of depleted land and carryout soil and water conservation activities on 5.9 hectares of land.
In order to rehabilitate the 7 million hectares of depleted land, animal feed and other types of plants will be cultivated on it, Daniel said.
According to Daniel, over 13 million farmers are expected to take part at development and environmental conservation activities to be launched as of next December.
There is a plan to raise Ethiopia’s forest cover to more than 11.5 million hectares of land by the end of this budget year, he said.
Close to 14 million farmers took part at the soil and water conservation activities undertaken on 5.3 million hectares of land last budget year. The farmers contributed labor estimated at 6.8 billion birr, he indicated.Source:http://www.waltainfo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5864:nation-set-to-conserve-close-to-13-mln-hct-of-land-&catid=52:national-news&Itemid=291