A misalignment between fresh flower export revenue data has created confusion between regulators at the central bank, the Customs Commission, and the Ministry of Agriculture.
A new reconfiguration of last year’s export reports finds that flower export revenues are only two-thirds of the officially disclosed figures. The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) registered cut-flower export revenues nearly at USD 600 million for the 2022/23 fiscal year, making flowers the second-most valuable export commodity after coffee.
Sofia Kassa (PhD), a state minister of Agriculture, reiterated this figure during discussions on the horticulture industry with stakeholders in Holeta town on January 4, 2024.
“A total of 1,600 hectares of land is [used to grow] flowers. How can 620 million dollars be generated from this tiny farm area? How could flower export revenue become second next to the coffee industry, which has 200 years of experience in Ethiopia and 871,000 hectares of farmland? We started investigating In order to clarify these discrepancies,” said a senior expert at the Agriculture Investment and Input department. “After the reconfiguration, we found out the actual export revenue from flower export in 2022/23 is only two-thirds of the 620 million dollar being reported.”
Read more at thereporterethiopia.com