The Controversy In Ethiopia's New Coffee Market

An advocate for poor coffee growers debates with a government official the quality of specialty coffees and the freedom of Ethiopia's free market

Photo: Courtesy of the VOA

Note: The debate was aired in three parts on Aug 21, Aug 28, and Sept 4, 2009. The audio may be accessed from the VOA program audio archive located here. For the convenience of many of this blog's readers, I will try to translate and post the transcript here very soon.

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By Alula Kebede
Voice of America

September 04, 2009

Washington, DC - In a three-part Crossfire, Ethiopian coffee advocates debate whether the market for Ethiopia's specialty coffees is deteriorating and how the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange represent the government's attempt to promote the new market while at the same time tries to control it.

The debate on these and other related issues is taken up by Eyob Tekalegn, the head of finance & business affairs section at the Ethiopian embassy in Washington, D.C. and Wondwossen Mezlekia, a frequent advocate of the Ethiopian beans in the U.S. market. Wondwossen posts a blog in Seattle called the Poor Farmer. He says the poor farmers won't be represented fairly in the new market if most of the 11 members of the exchange's board of directors are government officials.

Eyob on the other hand claims some of these officials are represented as stake holders not as government officials as some of them are market players themselves. VOA Amharic's Crossfire host Alula Kebede moderated the debate.

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