Horticulture farms in Debrezeit cluster teamed up to host an “Open Green House Day” initiated and organized by Ethiopian Horticulture Producer Exporters Association (EHPEA) held on December 12th, 2019. The event aimed to enhance the awareness of the surrounding community towards their perception of farms operation in the green house. The visit program accommodated over 110 various stakeholders drawn from the local government representatives, community leaders, community youths and elders were in attendance.
Mr. Tewodros Zewdie, EHPEA Executive Director; stated on his welcoming remark that the Association organized this event taking into account that the achieved success of the horticulture sector is due to the hard work of the employees who came from the community. Mentioning flower investment in the country, it is only around 1500 hectares of land is under production which is contributing the major foreign currency being on the 5th level of flower export in the world. The sector created job opportunity for over 200,000 people in the country.
He also added that; if we double this investment as we have all the resources such as land, water and trainable workforce, the country economy and the livelihood of the community will be greatly benefited while the knowledge transfer is enhanced. As the sector is very competitive globally it needs due attention of the government and the community in supporting and creating conducive environment for investors.
On the opening the Ada Woreda Abba Gadaa’s made their blessing and prayers, as per the culture of the region.
Mr. Benjamin Goepferich, Regional Director Production Africa of Dummen Orange, gave a brief introduction of their farm and the cluster horticulture investment towards the code of conduct in a way how they interact with the employees and community engagement programs of CSR.
Bishoftu City Administration Office Administrator Mr. Merid Asfaw said on his speech; such kind of events creates belongingness with in the community and narrow the gaps of understanding. He convey his message to the community leaders that they have to work with the farms hand to hand to boost the cluster investment. And lastly, he passes his appreciation to the event organizers that this kind of programs should be encouraged and adapted to other clusters as well.
The Ada Woreda Security and Administration Office Administrator Mr. Eshetu Nego and Investment office representative Mr. Haymanot Naha calls the community to collaborate on this investment development with in the region and work closely with farms and government offices for peace and security.
After the opening remarks the two farms; Olij Roses Plc and Joytech Plc received the visitors with a warm welcome and opened their production site for the official visit with a proper guidance and brief explanation. Among the facilities visited, rose flower propagation, used water management system (Wetland), herb pack house and different varieties of herb green houses were visited.
After the visit the participants reflected their feedbacks how they are enlightened by what they observe on obtaining good agricultural practices appreciating the practices that the farms are following especially on the standard and wetland construction for the waste water treatment of the farms for appropriate environment protection.
