Poor Farmer

I'm back ... after making a swift detour through the treacherous and brutal roads of Ethiopian politics to deliver a message to the government of Ethiopia and our donors. At a time when the majority of Ethiopians are struggling for sheer survival, a few well-connected rascals are bleeding the country by misusing their powers and engaging in corrupt and fraudulent activities. As the Prime Minister himself told the public during his most recent appearance at the parliament, his government is infested by corrupt individuals ("thieves," to use his own words). Whereas, the general public - the millions who are languishing under the systemic oppression and exploitation - feel in despair that they have been let down by everyone, including the Prime Minister, who touts "economic development" and seriously doubt the sincerity of the Prime Minister's tough talk about fighting corruption. Corruption is not a new phenomenon in the country. The only difference ...

The article posted below is taken from an essay that was published in the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) publication titled " A Market for Abdu: Creating a Commodity Exchange in Ethiopia " on March 23, 2012. The author, Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin, CEO of Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX), recounts the challenges that ECX faced when coffee was first introduced on the exchange and how Dr. Eleni "overcame" the terrifying situation. Although this story is not new to the coffee community or anyone else who followed this blog at the time, the frankness with which the article was written may come as a surprise to some since it stands in stark contrast with ECX's past assertions. As a background, here is a brief reminder of how contentious this very topic was back in 2009. In this commentary that I published on August 2, 2009, I wrote: "As it has now become apparent, ECX was not ready to accommodate trading operations of a complex g...