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Ethiopia Agricultural Production
The effect of the PMAC's land reform program on food
production and its marketing and distribution policies were
among two of the major controversies surrounding the
revolution. Available data on crop production show that land
reform and the various government rural programs had a
minimal impact on increasing the food supply, as production
levels displayed considerable fluctuations and low growth
rates at best (see table 13,
Appendix).
Major Cash Crops
The most important cash crop in Ethiopia was coffee. During
the l970s, coffee exports accounted for 50 to 60 percent of
the total value of all exports, although coffee's share
dropped to 25 percent as a result of the economic
dislocation following the l974 revolution. By l976 coffee
exports had recovered, and in the five years ending in
l988/89, coffee accounted for about 63 percent of the value
of exports. Domestically, coffee contributed about 20
percent of the government's revenue. Approximately 25
percent of Ethiopia's population depended directly or
indirectly on coffee for its livelihood.
Ethiopia's coffee is almost exclusively of the arabica
type, which grows best at altitudes between l,000 and 2,000
meters. Coffee grows wild in many parts of the country,
although most Ethiopian coffee is produced in the southern
and western regions of Kefa, Sidamo, Ilubabor, Gamo Gofa,
Welega, and Harerge.
Reliable estimates of coffee production in Ethiopia were
unavailable as of mid-1991. However, some observers
indicated that Ethiopia produced between l40,000 and l80,000
tons annually. The Ethiopian government placed coffee
production at l87,000 tons in l979/80, 233,000 tons in
l983/84, and l72,000 tons in l985/86. Estimates for l986/87
and l987/88 were put at l86,000 and l89,000 tons,
respectively. Preliminary figures from other sources
indicated that coffee production continued to rise in
1988/89 and 1989/90 but registered a sharp decline of
perhaps as much as one-third during 1990/91. About 44
percent of the coffee produced was exported. Although the
potential for local coffee consumption was high, the
government, eager to increase its hard-currency reserves,
suppressed domestic consumption by controlling coffee sales.
The government also restricted the transfer of coffee from
coffee-producing areas to other parts of the country. This
practice made the price of local coffee two to three times
higher than the price of exported coffee.
About 98 percent of the coffee was produced by peasants on
smallholdings of less than a hectare, and the remaining 2
percent was produced by state farms. Some estimates
indicated that yields on peasant farms were higher than
those on state farms. In the 1980s, as part of an effort to
increase production and to improve the cultivation and
harvesting of coffee, the government created the Ministry of
Coffee and Tea Development, which was responsible for
production and marketing. The ten-year plan called for an
increase in the size of state farms producing coffee from
l4,000-l5,000 hectares to 50,000 hectares by l994. However,
given the strain on the government's financial resources and
the consistently declining coffee price in the world market,
this may have been an unrealistic goal.
The decline in world coffee prices, which began in 1987,
reduced Ethiopia's foreign-exchange earnings. In early 1989,
for example, the price of one kilogram/US$0.58; of coffee
was by June it had dropped to US$0.32. Mengistu told the
1989 WPE party congress that at US$0.32 per kilogram,
foreign-exchange earnings from coffee would have dropped by
240 million birr, and government revenue would have been
reduced by l40 million birr by the end of l989. Such
declines not only hampered the government's ability to
implement its political, economic, and social programs but
also reduced Addis Ababa's capacity to prosecute its war
against various rebel groups in northern Ethiopia.
Before the revolution, pulses and oilseeds played an
important role, second only to coffee, in Ethiopia's
exports. In EFY l974/75, pulses and oilseeds accounted for
34 percent of export earnings (about l63 million birr), but
this share declined to about 3 percent (about 30 million
birr) in EFY l988/89 (see table 14,
Appendix). Three
factors
contributed to the decline in the relative importance of
pulses and oilseeds. First, the recurring droughts had
devastated the country's main areas where pulses and
oilseeds were produced. Second, because peasants faced food
shortages, they gave priority to cereal staples to sustain
themselves. Finally, although the production cost of pulses
and oilseeds continued to rise, the government's price
control policy left virtually unchanged the official
procurement price of these crops, thus substantially
reducing net income from them. The Ethiopian Pulses and
Oilseeds Corporation, the agency responsible for exporting
two-thirds of these crops, reported losses in EFY l982/83
and EFY 1983/84. In EFY l983/84, the corporation received
export subsidies of more than 9 million birr. Subsequently,
production of both crops failed to improve; by 1988 the
output index, whose base year was 1972 (100), was 85.3 for
pulses and 15.8 for oilseeds. Given the country's economic
and political problems and the ongoing war in the north,
there was little prospect of improvement.
Cotton is grown throughout Ethiopia below elevations of
about l,400 meters. Because most of the lowlands lack
adequate rainfall, cotton cultivation depends largely on
irrigation. Before the revolution, large-scale commercial
cotton plantations were developed in the Awash Valley and
the Humera areas. The Tendaho Cotton Plantation in the lower
Awash Valley was one of Ethiopia's largest cotton
plantations. Rain-fed cotton also grew in Humera, Bilate (in
Sidamo), and Arba Minch (in Gamo Gofa).
Since the revolution, most commercial cotton has been grown
on irrigated state farms, mostly in the Awash Valley area.
Production jumped from 43,500 tons in l974/75 to 74,900 tons
in l984/85. Similarly, the area of cultivation increased
from 22,600 hectares in l974/75 to 33,900 hectares in
l984/85.
Data as of 1991
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