Ethiopia Counts Coffee at the Wrong End

On July 7, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told Parliament that Ethiopia had earned a record $3.1 billion from coffee exports. Six days later, the National Bank of Ethiopia reported that coffee export volume was down from the same period a year earlier. Both statements can be true. That is the problem. For a coffee-growing household in the coffee belt around Harar, in the East and West Hararghe zones of eastern Ethiopia’s Oromia region, the contradiction is not statistical. Coffee brings one concentrated seasonal income after months of work and exposure to world prices. Khat, a stimulant crop whose leaves are […] The post Ethiopia Counts Coffee at the Wrong End appeared first on African Arguments.