Ethiopia earned USD 550 million between July and March of the current fiscal year from the export of horticultural products.

Ethiopia’s horticulture sector showed improvement during the 2021/2022 fiscal year after being severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Exports from the sector reached USD 628 million during the same fiscal year surpassing expectations. Ethiopia plans to obtain more than USD 770 million from the sector in the 2022/2023 fiscal year.

The country is second in Africa following Kenya and fourth in the world in the production and export of flower. However, the sector is not operating with full capacity due to several problems. The sector’s major bottlenecks include shortage of investment land, energy, and finance. Investors are also unable to invest in the sector due to low supply of resources required for production. On the other hand, companies that are already engaged in the sector are not producing at full capacity because of frequent power outages.

The Ethiopian Horticulture Producer Exporters Association (EHPEA) has been exerting efforts to strengthen Ethiopia’s international competitiveness and foreign exchange revenue from the horticulture sector including cut flowers, fruit, vegetables, and herbs among others. It is providing trainings to companies and giving incentives by developing international quality standard certification of various levels.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency and 2Merkato Archives