UNDP's Report: Sustainability of ECX uncertain; mandatory coffee trading an obstacle to contract farming
Note from Wondwossen: The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has
published on March 22, 2012 the final evaluation report on its assistance to Ethiopia in two
strategic programs: Economic Growth Corridor and Private Sector
Development, which includes UNDP's support for the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange. The evaluation was conducted from November 28 to December 16, 2011
with the objective to assess the progress and achievement of the projects and "the
contribution of UNDP’s support towards these, and to propose measures to
increase the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of UNDP’s cooperation in
the area of private sector development."
Highlights (paraphrased):
· UNDP
has allocated $1.5 million annually (from July 2008 through June 2013) to cover
salaries of the international experts (including the CEO's salary of about $300,000
annually, according to the Ethiopian Weekly, Addis Fortune, June 24,
2012)
· The
adopted approach towards establishing a radically new market system appears to
be successful, but its sustainability hasn’t yet been assured
· The
government’s vision of trading coffee through the ECX may have been the reason
for the government's eagerness to rapidly establish the ECX
· Mandatory
coffee trading through the ECX constitutes an obstacle to the development of
contract farming and should be reviewed
·
The
impact of ECX on the livelihood of small holder farmers has been unclear
·
Capacity
of the ECXA is not commensurate with the capacity of the ECX which it is
supposed to oversee
Below are
sections of the report that pertain to the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange project.
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UNDP’s
Enhanced Economic Growth Programme in Ethiopia 2010 - 2011
AN EVALUATION OF TWO OUTCOMES: Economic Growth
Corridor & Private Sector Development
Final
Report
Jan-Hendrik
van Leeuwen and Beyene Tadesse
December, 2011
UNDP's support for the ECX & ECXA
Launched
in April 2008, the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) project aims at
establishing the first ever state-of-the art, transparent, professionally and
independently managed market institution that serves the needs of all market
actors and users. It is assumed to have the potential for transforming the
Ethiopian agricultural sector and the economy through enhancing the understanding
of stakeholders, including policy makers.
The ECX
is initially managed by an independent and professional team of internationally
recruited “top-caliber” professionals. An
ECX management transition plan calls for transfer of responsibility from the
internationally recruited to nationally recruited staff through internal
capacity building.
The
Ethiopian Commodity Exchange Authority (ECXA) was set up at the same time to be
the regulatory agency with the responsibility to regulate the proper
functioning of the commodity exchange.
UNDP
has helped recruit and has financially supported an international management
team of 9 professionals since July 2008.
This support is scheduled to end in June 2013. UNDP has allocated $ 1.5 million annually to
cover salaries of the international experts. In addition, UNDP has financed public
education activities to raise awareness of the role and functioning of the
ECXA, and a two-weeks training workshop for ECXA’s local staff to build their
managerial capacity.
The ECX
has also been supported by a number of other development partners, chief among
them USAID, DfID and the IFC.
Key Findings
1. At the Institutional level
- An “out of the box” approach was taken to
rapidly introduce a radically new concept, namely by establishing a
semi-autonomous agency, staffed with international experts bringing with them
their knowledge of best practices.
- While the adopted approach towards
establishing a radically new market system appears to be successful, its
sustainability hasn’t yet been assured.
- The current scenario for the management
transfer of ECX may not adequately ensure the sustainability of the new
institution.
2. At the Market systems level
- ECX has established a base for competitive
and transparent price-setting at local, regional and terminal markets. This could potentially lead to significantly
increased export earnings.
- The establishment of ECX has increased the
participation by such actors as banking and micro finance institutions that
didn’t play much of role in the market system before.
- The mandatory aspect of coffee trading is in
line with the government’s vision of promoting two types of agricultural
production: small holder farming on the one hand, and large-scale commercial
farming on the other; it also may have been necessary to rapidly establish the
ECX.
- However, mandatory coffee trading through the
ECX constitutes an obstacle to the development of contract farming mechanisms,
a potentially important alternative approach towards increasing export revenues
from specialty and branded coffees.
3. At grassroots level
- The anecdotal evidence obtained indicates
that the impact on the livelihood of small holder farmers has been unclear so
far.
4. ECXA
- The capacity of the ECXA is not commensurate
with the capacity of the ECX which it is supposed to oversee.
- The legal framework for ECXA’s oversight
function appears to be weak.
- Its capacity for awareness raising and
providing adequate oversight is limited.
Recommendations
The
following is a list of recommended actions that the evaluation team has
formulated:
1. the
current transition process should be reviewed in favor of a more gradual and
sequential process to ensure an effective transfer of technical and management
expertise from the international to a local staff, and create a solid and
sustainable base for the agency.
2. The
policy of mandatory coffee trading
through the ECX should be reviewed and opportunities to promote contract
farming in the coffee sector should be explored.
3. Increase capacity building support for the ECXA.
4. A
rigorous analysis should be commissioned to assess the impact that the new
agency and the new market system has on the livelihood of small holder farmers.
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Download the full report here or leave me a note at poorfarmer@gmail.com for a copy.