H.I.M. words concerning agri-culture
``Since Ethiopia's economy is predominantly agricultural,
agriculture must play a large role in the plans which have been drawn up, at our
command, for our empire's development.
It is the duty of all to apply the skill of their minds to the factories, the
trading centres and the roads and communications which are also evidence of
Ethiopia's prosperity, of Ethiopia's strength.
During the past year (1958) the abrupt cessation of rainfall during the growing
season caused considerable damage to Ethiopia's crops. This experience has
demonstrated that the rivers of our country should be devoted to irrigation, so
that the food needs of our ever growing population will no longer be left at the
mercy of the whims and caprices of the elements.
The fruits of the farmer's labour must be enjoyed by him whose toil has produced
the crop.The uses of trees are many and varied. Groves of trees protect our
fields and plantations from being desiccated by the desert winds which blow from
neighbouring regions. During the summer months, they provide moisture and shade.
If trees are not presently planted to replace those being cut down from time to
time, our constant efforts to conserve and
develop the wealth of our country through the welfare of present and future
generations will be rendered
ineffective and futile.
We are greatly grieved to observe the many thousands of gashas of rich forest
land being destroyed every year by reckless timber-cutting, thoughtless forest
burning, unregulated forest grazing and other misuses of our forest wealth, due
to popular ignorance and desire for temporary advantage on the part of our
people.
The existence or non-existence of forest wealth in a country is one of the most
important factors influencing its development and progress. The increasing pace
of deforestation and the growing dearth of timber in Ethiopia, caused by
unregulated tree-cutting and the failure to replace these by new plantings, give
us occasion for anxiety that a severe economic problem will confront the coming
generation. It is essential that steps be taken here and
now to stop this wastage and check this destruction.
In these days when all nations of the world, in recognition of the tremendous
importance of forest wealth, have launched intensive progranmes for forest
conservation and re-forestation,it behoves our county also to take the
appropriate measures to solve this problem.
It is our wish and our desire that each and every citizen of our country follow
the example we set on this Arbour Day in planting this tree, and himself plant
as many trees as he can,for his own benefit as well as for the benefit of future
generations.
Without agricultural expansion, industrial growth is impossible. Great strides,
it is true,have been made in introducing industries into Ethiopia in recent
years. But in any less-developed agrarian country possessing only limited
possibilities for selling the products of its factories in world export markets,
industry can grow only if
there exists an increasingly prosperous rural consumer population.
Industrialisation is not an alternative
to the development of agriculture; rather, the development of agriculture is the
essential pre-condition to the growth of industry.Measures will shortly be
proposed to Parliament for action to be taken to preserve, for the benefit of
present and future generations, the nation's forests which are not only valuable
in themselves as a source of wood, but act as nature's guardian against the
forces of erosion, which, unchecked, can transform fertile areas into barren and
sterile desert.``