As the Ethiopian Horticulture Producer Exporters Association (EHPEA) is dedicatedly engaged in spearheading and supporting strategic initiatives and impactful interventions to promote the nation’s horticulture sustainably, key stakeholders are committedly reinforcing the course with committed support and collaboration.

While commercial farms are operating with increasing investments on modern and sustainable horticultural production, some for diversified high-value crops, the Government and development partners are accompanying them by strategic supportive tools, with EHPEA playing a central role in facilitating essential venues where energies from the wide array of actors are converged to drive growth of resilient and productive horticulture industry.

The practical gestures and tangible commitment witnessed these days with the subsector key stakeholders are vivid demonstrations of each actor’s meaningful engagement meant to awaken the horticultural sleeping-giant, the second largest floriculture hub in Africa.

While Ethiopia is among the five top flower producing and exporting countries globally, strenuous efforts are well underway through collaboration and committed engagement of key stakeholders: the public sector, private investors, the Association, and development partners, leveling the venue to unleash the country’s immense, yet untapped, horticultural potential.

Speaking at Horticulture Subsector Stakeholders Consultative Meeting in Arba Minch, South Ethiopia Regional State few days backs, H.E. Dr. Sofia Kassa, State Minister of Agriculture, underlined the need to further strengthen the joint efforts of stakeholders with commitment of each key actor to realize mutual gains from the industry’s growth.

𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐈𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 & 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲

The Ethiopian Horticulture Producer Exporters Association (EHPEA) has been successful in its endeavors of advocating for strategic policy as well as in promoting sustainable and global market-compliant horticultural operation in Ethiopia.
EHPEA’s dedicated engagement with relevant actors in courses to ensure conducive business environment and enhance the industry’s global competitiveness has earned victories in critical issues related to land, customs, tax, logistics, capacity building and global market compliance among others. This has also enabled the country’s horticulture to flourish with growing private investments in sustainable agricultural operation, thereby increasing employment opportunities and hard currency earnings.

Having successfully organized ten editions of the HortiFlora Expo, an annual premier international horticulture and floriculture trade fair in Africa, EHPEA has been able to strategically promote Ethiopia’s rapidly growing horticulture industry and enhance the country’s global position in the subsector.

Through its specialized TVET Center, EHPEA has been driving industry capacity, by training commercial farm workers and others with practical skills in Global Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Integrated Pest Management (IPM), compliance and postharvest handling among others.

The Association has been implementing various partnership initiatives to promote the country’s horticulture with sustainability, also with its three-level Code of Practice Certification guiding its member farms through social and environmental-conscious operations incorporating strategic Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) interventions that foster long-term economic resilience and social progress of local communities.

𝐏𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐲: 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲’𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬

The Ministry of Agriculture has, in recent times, taken strategic measures and launched key initiatives to transform the horticulture industry, especially to replicate the country’s success of floriculture in fruits and vegetables, thereby boosting decent employments and industry export earnings from currently hundreds of millions to billions of dollars in few years period.

To this end, the Ministry launched the 10-Year National Horticulture Strategy in 2024 and the 15-Year Avocado Development Program in 2025, and various measures are being taken at different levels towards their successful implementation.

In addition to ensuring effective implementation of industry incentives and benefit packages, the Ministry has been convening, with the attendance of the Minister of Agriculture H.E. Ato Addisu Arega, and the State Minister H.E. Dr. Sofia Kassa among others, painstaking stakeholders’ consultative meetings and field visits to horticulture farms at different times, which have indeed been serving as crucial platforms to identify and address critical issues of the industry.

The Ministry has also committedly supported the effect of the long-standing quest of horticultural farms demanding land for expansion, whereby over 30,000 hectares of land has now been designated for horticulture development in different regions across the country.

𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐆𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬

With the Ministry’s committed support and attentive direction, Regional Governments and highly relevant public offices at different levels have been taking their respective strategic measures to address important issues, thereby meaningfully supporting the country’s second largest hard currency earner within the agriculture sector after coffee.

The recent measures taken in making land availability for both expansion and new projects in some regions, addressing issues related to customs, title deeds and land registration as well as incoterms and crucial incentives among others are vital to drive the industry’s growth and its competitiveness globally.
Regions, including Oromia, Central Ethiopia, and South Ethiopia Regions have recently decided and made thousands of hectares of land available for both expansion and new projects of horticulture development, while relevant public offices at the federal, regional, zonal and local levels have taken key measures that significantly support the industry growth.

With consistent and active participation in the stakeholders consultative meetings, relevant public offices of investment, revenue, customs, development infrastructure, power and water utilities, telecom and other services have also been working closely with the Ministry and EHPEA to address issues that are critical to the success of the country’s horticulture subsector.
All these committed engagements are, of course, facilitating conducive investment environment and ensuring ease of business doing within the industry, and thereby greatly contributing to the subsector’s promotion and Ethiopia’s competitiveness globally.

𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬

Recent events portray that commercial farms in the country are increasingly investing in diversification of high-value crops, improved technology and solutions as well as modern agricultural facilities and operation aiming at boosting sustainable production with increased earnings and decent employment opportunities.
Many farms are being observed investing in operations compliant to standards and requirements of global markets, whereby a number of EHPEA member farms are increasingly certified with EHPEA’s highest level compliance, Gold-Level Certification that demonstrates their unwavering commitment to international standards, environmental stewardship and profound social responsibility.

The recently inaugurated mass rearing facility for biological pest control agents by Red Fox Ethiopia Plc (Dummen Orange) in Koka, Oromia Regional State, is a milestone in Ethiopia’s horticulture, and along with other related measures in adopting Integrated Pest Management (IPM) system by other growers, the move demonstrates that commercial farms are committedly mobilizing huge investments to run responsible and sustainable horticultural production in the country.

The dedicated expansion from just 3 hectares to 120 hectares of fields, relatively within short period of time, for sustainable production of varied summer flowers by Klaver Flowers as well as investments being witnessed currently with Luna and Lucy Farms among others in modern agricultural facilities and operation for diversified high-value horticultural crops in South Ethiopia Region are also examples of committed engagement of commercial farms in the country’s subsector development.

While creating social and economic opportunities for local people, many other EHPEA member farms at different clusters are being observed in investing and running responsible operation by facilitating conducive working environments, empowering local communities and supporting smallholder farmers and livelihoods through various strategic CSR interventions.