According to Capital, in July 8, 2008, in order to encourage the development of domestic shoemaking and textile industries, the Ethiopian Ministry of Taxation abolished the import tax on footwear components and added value tax on the supply of cotton for its textile industry.

In February this year, the Ministry of trade and industry proposed a plan to increase the production of 24 thousand pairs of shoes to 60 thousand to 70 thousand pairs per day.

Girma, Minister of trade and industry, said that at the end of the fiscal year, the production capacity of Ethiopia footwear industry has increased to 50 thousand pairs of Nissan.

Speaking of Ethiopia textile industry, Girma also stressed the interest of Turkey and India investors in Ethiopia textile, clothing and cotton cultivation. He said that in order to develop the garment manufacturing industry of Ethiopia, we must give priority to encouraging the development of the textile industry.

Note: at present, most of the cotton in Ethiopia is located at Ethiopia below 1400 meters above sea level, but because most of the lowlands lack rainwater, their planting relies heavily on irrigation.

In the past, large commercial cotton growing areas were mainly located in Awash Valley and Humera area.

Now, cotton grown on rainwater is distributed in Humera, Bilate and Arba Minch areas.

The Tendaho cotton program launched in the lower Awash Valley is one of the large scale cotton development plans of Essex.