ETHIOPIA – Eight local and foreign companies have entered into a 1.7 billion Birr deal with the Oromia Industrial Park Development Corporation (OIPDC) to invest in Bulbula Integrated Agro Industrial Park.
The Park, built on 271 hectares of land in Western Oromia, has been fully equipped with the necessary infrastructures and facilities to accommodate 135 investors in the space of processing of agro-value chains that include fruits and vegetables, dairy, honey, and poultry.
Ethiopia, the largest coffee producer in Africa, has been developing Integrated Agro-Industrial Park (IAIP) with a view of speeding up its structural transformation into an industry-led economy.
The companies in the agreement are involved in tomato processing, avocado oil production, animal fodder, and dairy products and will supply the products to domestic and foreign markets.
The companies are also believed will play a significant role in import substitution, particularly in food-related product items, and improve the nation’s foreign currency earnings.
The Bulbula, Yirgalem, and Bure Integrated Agro-Industrial parks, which have gone operational after their constructions were completed in the last three years, are part of a wider government strategy to position Ethiopia as the leading manufacturing hub in Africa by 2025.
The 240ha Bure Integrated Agro-industrial Park in the state of Amhara, houses Ethiopia’s largest edible oils factory, the PhiBela Edible Oil Factory, which has a daily production capacity of 1.5m liters of palm oil and is capable of servicing 60% of Ethiopia’s current demand.
Oromia Industrial Park Development Corporation CEO Senait Mabre said the government has been investing heavily in infrastructure with an intention of bringing a change in the country by involving investors in various sectors.
He added that the regional government is providing all the necessary support to help the investors become successful.
The food processing sector in Ethiopia is by far the largest manufacturing industry in Ethiopia and accounts for 39% of the gross value of production in large and medium size manufacturing in 2009/2010, the gross value of production.
In 2021, OIPDC also invested Birr 7.8bn (US$193.6m) in the construction of another park in the city of Nekemte, 320km west of Addis Ababa.
The new park, which will process coffee, tea, edible oils, grains, dairy, meat, and honey products, will come on stream in 2024.
The Nekemte park will reportedly be aimed at domestic and multinational companies building goods for export. Nekemte is on the planned Sebeta-Ambo-Nekemte-Bedele rail link, which will connect with the mainline taking goods to the port at Djibouti.
The park, which will cover an area of 250ha with a forecast to create 50,000 jobs, is funded by the local government and is expected to take 3 years to build.
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