Nation raises forest coverage to 11 %

Addis Ababa, August 10 (WIC) – Ethiopia’s forest cover has reached 11 per cent, according to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).

“Of Ethiopia’s total land area of about 112.3 million hectares, over 12.2 million hectares is now forested,” Natural Resource Development, Conservation and Use Directorate Deputy Director with MoA, Tefera Tadesse, told WIC.

Moreover, some 41 percent of the total area is also covered with various vegetations, he said.

Of the 3.5 billion seedlings prepared for plantation last Ethiopian budget year, some 950 million seedlings were planted during the dry season, he said. Plantation of the remaining seedlings is underway in this rainy season, he added.

In connection with the basin development activities carried out last budget year, over 13 million hectares of land was protected from animal and human intrusion, he added.

Forest resource conservation would have a significant contribution in generating foreign earnings, he said the $71 million earned during the past 10 years from the export of eucalyptus and bamboo trees.

As part of the efforts to improve forest coverage, the construction of forest seed centers is underway in partnership with JICA with 80 million birr in Amhara, Tigray, Oromia and SNNP states.