India Helping Ethiopia Realise Full Potential of Neem
Almost
a century after neem was introduced in this East African nation, India,
where the tree originated, is helping Ethiopia realise its full
potential.
"Ethiopia
has unlimited potential for the plantation of the neem tree which grows
in humid, arid, and hot places. India, which is the birthplace of the
tree, earns $2.5 billion annually from the sale of Azadirachtin (a
chemical extracted from the tree and used to manufacture pesticides)
alone," Neem Foundation of Ethiopia chairman Taye Teferedegn told.
"The
tree has enormous advantages from agriculture to medicine, from
industry to the environment. Its use is really countless. If we work on
it, we will have another item for export on our list," he added.
Towards
this, a presentation was made here by an Indian business and academic
delegation that was invited by the Neem Foundation of Ethiopia as part
of its awareness creation and technology transfer objectives.
During
the visit, Ramesh C. Saxena, chairman of the Mumbai-based Neem
Foundation, delivered a lecture that was attended, among others, by a
representative of EID Parry India Ltd, a huge Indian pest control
company that focuses on the industrial extraction of Azadirachtin. The
company aspires to discover the opportunities in the development and
processing of the neem tree in Ethiopia, an official said.
One kilogram of Azadirachtin currently sells at around $1,200 dollars on the international market.
"The
visit would enable the Foundation and the nation to tap into a very
valuable technology and knowledge transfer opportunity," Teferedegn
pointed out.
The
Neem Foundation of Ethiopia has chalked out a five-year plan to plant
over one million neem trees in at least three regional states of the
country and start the extraction of Azadirachtin and the production of
various neem bi-products. The Foundation, with the support of donors,
had planted over 150,000 neem seedlings in Afra regional state over the
last four years.
The
Neem Foundation of Ethiopia is a non-governmental organisation
established by Ethiopian scientists in 1995 to promote the Neem tree in
this country. Since its establishment, the Foundation has carried out
various activities to expand the plantation of neem trees in the
country.
"It
has medicinal value in addition to economic benefits. It can produce
timber and firewood while at the same time absorbing carbon and helping
with land conservation. It did not receive as much attention as it
should have in order to maximize its benefits. We are currently working
with the Neem Foundation of Ethiopia to make use of its advantages
exhaustively in the future," said Sertse Sibuh, forestry case team
coordinator at Ethiopia`s agriculture ministry.
Ramesh
C. Saxena is renowned for his bio-pest control initiative both in India
and globally. From 1991 to 2000, he was senior principal scientist at
the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in
Kenya where he coordinated a $1.79 million neem awareness project in
sub-Saharan Africa funded by the Finnish government and the United
Nations Environment Programme. The project contributed to mitigating
rural poverty through dissemination and diffusion of neem technology for
better plant, animal, human, and environmental health.
Saxena
received a masters in tropical agriculture from the University of
Hawaii and a doctorate in entomology from Delhi University.
IANS
