Selected Speeches Of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I
ENCOURAGING AGRICULTURE
....While Our people who earn their living from farming and animal husbandry cannot today gain equally as they did in the last previous years from the export of cereals, We have taken adequate measures to maintain their prosperity, and the value of our currency in the international market, is maintaining its previous value.
Furthermore, realising that the export and marketing of local products constitute able support of a nation's economy, We have given instructions to Our Minister of Commerce and Industry to expedite the study and preparation of projects aiming to promote and stimulate the export of Ethiopia's agricultural and other surpluses.
We have ordered Our Minister of Agriculture to prepare a long-term programme for the improvement of agriculture and for the amelioration of livestock and cattle; already veterinarians with the necessary equipment have begun the campaign against diseases in order to better develop this source of Our people's wealth.
This Parliament gave its support by approving the promulgation of the Proclamation making compulsory the immunisation of Ethiopian cattle against contagious diseases. Aside from the programme for the development of farming and animal husbandry, industrial development for the benefit of Our people is the object of Our constant care....
November 2, 1949.
.... 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. In implementation of the project which We announced to Our beloved people fourteen months ago for the stimulation of increased agricultural production, Our representatives have visited each province of Our Empire and over two million dollars have been made available to Our farmers for use in expanding and improving their farming activities. Other measures are being put into effect designed to encourage and facilitate greater crop yields. The Ethiopian Grain Corporation has been established, at Our order, to guarantee to our farmers some degree of security in marketing their production and to protect them from unpredictable price fluctuations. Steps are being taken to rid Ethiopia's farmlands of the plagues which have periodically devastated Our people's crops, and, with the assistance of the United Nations, an expanded locust control programme is being undertaken....
November 2, 1960.
.... Agriculture, the backbone of the nation's economy, has received its proper share of attention in Our Government's planning. Intensive efforts are being made to improve farming techniques. The cotton project at Tendaho is moving out of the experimental stage. Enlarged veterinary services will improve the quality of Ethiopia's cattle, thus multiplying many times over the wealth which exists in the country's livestock population and a new slaughterhouse is going into production near Shashamanne to take advantage of this potential. A co-ordinated locust control project, undertaken in common with neighbouring countries, promises to reduce, if not immediately to eliminate entirely, the ravages which this insect pest has inflicted in the past upon Ethiopia's crops. Grain storage facilities are being constructed which will serve to guard against the economic and social disturbances which arise when shortages occur. 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....
November 21, 1963.
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Emperor Haile Sellassie First Theocracy Reign
Order of the Nyahbinghi
May 24, 2017