The Ministry of Agriculture is planning to prepare cluster farmland which is ready for use so that investors can directly launch agricultural activities without being burdened by preparing the land or infrastructural development.

The performance registered from commercial farms is below expectation and the latest scheme is designed to boost productivity by reducing the time wasted before actual operations begin said Tefera.

It is to be remembered that the federal government developed a land bank system with regional states depositing land that is above 5000 hectares adding up to more than 3.6 million hectares of land in the bank since 2008.

An estimated 11,773 domestic and international investors have been licensed in the agricultural sector with a total registered capital of 132 billion birr. Out of the total number 5284 investors have received 2.2 million hectares of land on lease but just 372,088 hectares, or 17.6% of the total land allocated for commercial agricultural development, has been developed.

Of the 5284 investors just 126 are international investors which amongst them have an estimated 27 percent of the land distributed while the remaining domestic investors have been allocated 73% of the land.

Source: Capital http://www.2merkato.com/201206201352/ethiopia-promoting-agricultural-investment