Economic development transforms an economy from one that is
largely agricultural to one that is largely manufacturing and
services. Since agriculture currently dominates Ethiopia’s
economy and employment, however, there is an issue as to what
its role should be in getting from here to there. In the normal
process of economic growth, non-agricultural sectors grow more
rapidly than the agricultural sector. The slower growth of
agriculture, its relative decline, concern about the difficulty
of modernizing agriculture and pessimism about the potentials
for technological change in agriculture suggest to some that
agriculture should not be given priority for scarce resources in
the interests of rapid overall growth. There is substantial
evidence, however, that raising agricultural productivity is
possible and that agricultural growth plays a key role in
economic growth, particularly in low income countries. Moreover,
the Government of Ethiopia is committed to rapid growth of
agriculture as a means of accelerating t