The production of sesame by small-scale private farmers for the Meher season (September to October) in Ethiopia is expected to be 198,246tn in the current fiscal year.

This is 19pc lower than the previous year production, according to a seasonal crop production forecast report published by the Central Statistics Agency (CSA), last week. The total amount of area that is covered by sesame also showed a decline by 29.4pc to 271,717ha.

Close to 22.9 million tonnes of harvest is expected from the 2012 agriculture works the report revealed. The amount expected to be harvested from the season has increased by one million tonnes compared to that of the previous fiscal year.

The results of the year 2012/13 Crop Production Forecast Survey indicate that a total land area of about 12.2ha are covered with grain crops such as cereals,pulses and oilseeds.

Out of the 2012/13 private holdings total cultivated cropland area and expected volume of grain production, 9.8ha are accounted for cereals (79.94pc) from which about 19.8ha (86.85pc) are expected to be produced during this year's Meher harvest season.