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Ethiopia Government Marketing Operations
Private traders and the Agricultural Marketing Corporation
(AMC), established in l976, marketed Ethiopia's agricultural
output. The AMC was a government agency whose objective was
to influence the supply and price of crops. It purchased
grain from peasant associations at fixed prices. The AMC set
quotas of grain purchases to be delivered by peasant
associations and cooperatives and also bought from private
wholesalers, who were required to sell half of their
purchases at predetermined prices. State farms sold their
output to the AMC. Although the AMC had agents in all
regions, it was particularly active in the major cerealproducing regions, namely, Gojam, Shewa, Arsi, and Gonder.
In 1981/82, out of the AMC's purchases of 257,000 tons of
grain, Gojam accounted for 32 percent of the purchases, and
Arsi, Shewa, and Gonder accounted for 23, 22, and l0
percent, respectively. The government's price controls and
the AMC's operations had led to the development of different
price systems at various levels. For instance, the l984/85
official procurement price for 100 kilograms of teff was 42
birr at the farm level and 60 birr when the AMC purchased it
from wholesalers. But the same quantity of teff retailed at
81 birr at food stores belonging to the urban dwellers'
associations (
kebeles
--see Glossary) in Addis Ababa and sold
for as much as l8l birr in the open market. Such wide price
variations created food shortages because farmers as well as
private merchants withheld crops to sell on the black market
at higher prices.
Data as of 1991
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