Ethiopia has the potential to become a world-class player on the sesame seed market, but at present the quality of the sesame seeds at the time of export leaves much to be desired. The problem seems to be that farmers and dealers are contaminating the harvest. There are two steps that can be taken towards a solution.
Farmers and traders in Ethiopia often add products to the sesame to improve their profits: a sack of sand, or rejected product from the sesame harvest (generally intended for use in livestock feed). As a result, the quality of the export product is low, the sesame is hard to sell. Nonetheless, Ethiopia’s dry climate is perfectly suited for sesame growing. The LEI, a Wageningen UR institute, has collaborated with its Ethiopian partners in producing five papers addressing the problem in the sesame sector and proposing a number of solutions.
Auction
The researchers present two possible steps towards a solution. Earlier this year, the Ethiopian government launched a commodity exchange: an auction at which the product is inspected before sale. On the commodity exchange, contaminated sesame seed brings farmers and traders much lower revenue, or cannot be sold at all. So far, the auction has proved unpopular, however, so the government is now considering making it mandatory.
Contract farming
Another step that can be taken is contract farming, in which farmers and exporters make direct commitments with each other on the sesame to be sold (quality, colour, etc.). The problem, however, is that contract farming will not work if trading on the commodity exchange is made mandatory. There, the product is piled into one heap, making direct negotiations impossible.
VC4PD
These five papers are the first on Ethiopia to be written in the Wageningen UR project “Value Chains for Pro-Poor Development” (VC4PD). In this project, the university is investigating creating or improving market opportunities for a number of African countries. This project is being conducted in partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under the Partnership Programme DGIS-WUR.
Papers