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The Ethiopian food systems transformation pathway: A valuable opportunity to bring safer food and improve health

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By Kebede Amenu

Globally, nearly half a million people die of foodborne diseases (FBDs) every year-with children making up 30% of these deaths. In Africa, where the numbers are soberingly high, the death toll is around 140,000 people each year. In addition to the tragedy of the many that die, FBDs also create a massive economic burden-low- and middle-income countries across Africa and Asia are estimated to lose US$95 billion per year due to unsafe food. Yet the burden of FBDs is still not fully recognized in many countries, and as our food systems become increasingly complex, this situation is set to deteriorate further. Fortunately, researchers and governments in Africa are starting to take action to address this.
In September 2021, the United Nations Food Systems Summit called member states-including Ethiopia-to transform their food systems so that people and the planet alike can enjoy a healthier, safer and more prosperous environment.
In connection with the global, regional and national food systems and safety challenges, the Ethiopian government has committed to advancing the implementation of an ambitious food systems transformation launched in 2020 and outlined in a document known as the ‘Ethiopian Food Systems Transformation Pathway’ (EFS-TP). The EFS-TP addresses major areas critical to achieving country-wide access to safe and nutritious food along with a shift towards sustainable consumption patterns, more nature positive production systems, equitable livelihoods, and resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks, and stress-all by 2030.
However, a variety of challenges stand in the way of the food systems transformation. Continued population growth, unplanned urbanization and a lack of food safety infrastructure are stressing Ethiopia’s food systems and lowering the overall safety of food supplies. To make matters worse, we lack accurate estimates of the actual health burden of FBDs in Ethiopia which limits our grasp of their magnitude or insight into how best to tackle them-a challenge the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is addressing in collaboration with The Ohio State University and other partners through the TARTARE project.
TARTARE, which aims to better understand the burden of FBDs caused by key pathogens in raw beef and dairy in Ethiopia, is working to achieve greater food safety by promoting the use of risk-based approaches to the management of food safety issues. These approaches focus on identifying priority FBDs to help strategically allocate the limited resources available in Ethiopia for food safety.
As the immense burden of FBDs in Ethiopia becomes clearer, the EFS-TP has outlined key steps to address food safety concerns in the country. Included in the EFS-TP are five ‘Action Tracks’ that delineate the intended long-term outcomes. Action Track 1 is to ‘ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all’, underscoring the fact that prioritizing food safety is fundamental to a successful food systems transformation.
The steps necessary to achieve Action Track 1 begin with strengthening Ethiopia’s national food safety management and regulation system. This will require working with relevant stakeholders to assess and upgrade the national food control system as well as focusing on specific value chains and sectors at risk of FBD transmission, such as poultry, beef and dairy. The EFS-TP also highlights the importance of influencing behaviour so that Ethiopian consumers begin to demand safer food from producers.
Food safety interventions are inherently complex, so it is necessary to determine what kind of interventions can best support the Ethiopian government’s intended food safety outcomes. In addition to the TARTARE project, the ILRI led Pull-Push project aims to generate sustainable improvements in food safety by co-implementing ‘pull’ (demand for safe food) and ‘push’ (supply of safe food) approaches in Ethiopia’s informal markets. The project includes trainings for food safety regulators and vendors to better manage food safety risks. In line with the Ethiopian government’s goal to influence consumer behaviour, the project is also developing communication campaigns to educate consumers on the best food safety practices.
While these efforts and the Ethiopian government’s acknowledgement of the importance of food safety are encouraging, there is still a lot of work to be done. Food safety has historically been seen as a secondary issue in Ethiopia which has made it difficult to address FBDs. While Ethiopia’s food systems transformation presents a unique chance to change this, it could quickly become a missed opportunity if the Ethiopian government does not take urgent action to improve food safety.
On the other hand, if the Ethiopian government takes full advantage of this opportunity to place food safety at the centre of its food systems agenda, it could have a tremendously beneficial impact on the ground. By taking direct actions to improve food safety, such as those outlined in the EFS-TP, the Ethiopian government can take a huge step towards combating FBDs in the country-ultimately saving lives, reducing economic costs, and improving the health and livelihoods of Ethiopians.

Dr Kebede Amenu is faculty member of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture of Addis Ababa University, and a postdoctoral fellow at the International Livestock Research Institute which is based in Ethiopia. His main areas of research encompass food safety interventions and priority settings in animal health.

Gov’t pays higher dues to narrow debt matrix

Despite the external flow which was expected to way heftily on government, the country has been able to steer itself to settle over 15 percent of higher external debt in the first nine months of the budget year when compared with the same period of last year. The debt settlement is higher than the new flow that contributes to reduce the external debt rate.
In spite of the internal and external thorns that poke the country’s economy, the Ethiopian government has continued with its high commitment to settle its international debt.
According to the latest public sector debt statistics bulletin which was analyzed and issued by the Debt Management Directorate of the Ministry of Finance; in the first nine months of the budget year that closed March 31, the country has settled over USD 1.64 billion to international creditors.
Of the total amount settled during the nine months, close to USD 1.3 billion was principal whilst USD 378.8 million was interest payments.
In comparison to last year’s third quarter report, the debt service had an increment of 15.13 percent. In the 2020/21 budget year, in the first nine months, the government settled about USD 1.43 billion.
As is customary, the major portion of debt service was dominated by state owned enterprises (SOE) and the remaining payment was the share of the central government.
In the stated period, SOE’s paid USD 1.22 billion which is a slight reduction when compared with the same period of last year.
At the end of March 2021, SOE’s debt settlement was USD 1.25billion which is higher by USD 29 million or 2.3 percent compared with this year’s nine month performance on the sector.
However, the central government service has significantly increased compared with the same period of last year.
The bulletin indicated that in the nine months the central government service had spiked to USD 425.6 million which is an increment of 136 percent when compared with USD 180.6 million made the same period of last year.
Over the last nine months that started July 1, the total external public debt disbursement was USD 774.85 million, with about 64 percent going to central government projects from various creditors, the majority of which came from IDA, and the remaining 36 percent went to SOEs mostly to Ethiopian Airlines.
In comparison to the previous four years, the total amount of external funding disbursed in the last one and a half years was significantly lower.
“One of the reasons for the decrease in disbursement is that SOEs have not borrowed in the last three years and are disbursing less and less for their older projects as they near completion while their undisbursed balance decreases,” the Debt Management Directorate quarterly bulletin read.
During the last three quarters, only three loan agreements have been signed with partners, one for a central government project and the other two for Ethiopian Airlines Aircraft purchase, totaling USD 290.74 million, with the majority being borrowed by Ethiopian Airlines (USD 279.52 million) and the remaining USD 11.22 million by the central government.
The decrease in external total public sector debt was about USD 1.03 billion, or it decreased by 4 percent; one reason for this decrease in stock of debt can be explained by USD exchange rate variation, which is a relatively stronger USD against other foreign currencies during March 2022 compared to June 2021, which the last month of the past budget year, resulted in reducing the debt stock in terms of USD, which is approximately USD 541.04 million.
“Another reason for the debt stock’s decline is that principal payments were higher than new disbursements, resulting in a negative net flow of USD 492.0 million,” the bulletin explained.
During the last three quarters, the net external debt resource flows (Disbursement-Principal payments) are negative (USD – 492.00 million), implying that the amount of disbursement from external sources (inflow) is less than the total external principal payments to creditors (outflow), and the net resource transfer, which is disbursement (inflow) minus principal payments minus interest payments, is USD – 870.81 million.
As of March 31, 2022, total public sector external debt was USD 28.45 billion, compared to USD 29.48 billion as of June 30, 2021.
Nominal external debt in percent of GDP was around 25.6 percent; present value of external debt in percent of GDP was around 18.7 percent.
External debt makes up around 49.9 percent of overall government debt, while the central government is responsible for 67.5 percent of the entire external debt, while SOEs with government guarantees and without government guarantees are responsible for 21.8 percent and 10.6 percent respectively.

Local recycling firm gets 27M euro injection

Great Value Energy Plc, a local recycling factory gains 27 million euro in loans for an expansion aimed to fulfill local demand and increase its export.
Great Value Energy Plc which has an extensive portfolio in; real estate, construction / construction project management, hotel complexes / resorts, food trade, agriculture, pharmaceutical industry, mining / raw materials, and a plastic recycling factory, through its management team stated that, “We will receive the 27 million euro loan and the value is ready on the account to be paid. Moreover, according to our agreements, the security deposit will have a maturity date of up to 5 years.”
Located in Sendafa, Oromia region, the company is producing 2,600 tons of household items per year from recycled plastics at the moment and will reach around 35,000 tons with the expansion by opening additional three recycling factories.
To help its expansion, the company has chosen European suppliers for the technologies, equipment and know-how for the supply, delivery, commissioning and training best quality in manufacturing improvement and business expansion.
“We are increasing our product range and our annual production capacity up to 35,000 tons. We are improving our product quality with European technology and adding amongst others, strategically important products, such as system relevant recycled raw materials, that are highly demanded in Europe and worldwide. In regards to our factory ́s expansion we signed the necessary foundational commitments,” said the management team.
As indicated by the management, currently the factory is awaiting a guarantee from the local commercial banks. “On our discussion, we have got positive answers from commercial banks through they have to get approval from the national bank, to which we also expect a positive feedback,” said the management.
As the management explains the buyers from Europe (Germany) have shown interest to buy the firm’s annual production contingents for three years with rolls on extension and are paying with regular payment terms.
“We are absolutely confident that our expansion plan will strengthen the economic environment, the foreign currency reserve as well as the people and the government of Ethiopia,” said the company in its statement sent to Capital.
At the same time it will effectively support solving a global plastic waste problem, in addition to improving plastic waste management in Ethiopia.

Berbera port shares offer swept off without gov’t notice

Gov’t to investigate the matter

Ethiopia losses its opportunity to the ownership of 19 percent of Berbera Port as the government failed to fulfill certain conditions according to Dr. Saad Ali Shire, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Somaliland. Ethiopian officials however said that there is no binding agreement to enforce this.
In 2016 after years of serious negotiations, Ethiopia had concluded an agreement with the Somaliland Ports Authority and DP World, which would see the government of Ethiopia getting 19% stake in joint ventures to develop the Port of Berbera; in addition to helping the country get additional logistical gateways for increasing its import and export trade.
“We agreed in a meeting back in 2016 to offer a 19% share to the Ethiopian government under certain conditions,” said Dr. Saad Ali Shire, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Somaliland, adding, “There was a stop date for the Ethiopians to act, but they didn’t act so it expired.”
In 2016/17 it was reported that DP World held a 51 percent stake in the project, Somaliland 30 percent and Ethiopia the remaining 19 percent. The government of Ethiopia was also expected to invest in infrastructure to develop the Berbera Corridor as a trade gateway for the inland country.
As the minister indicated, one of the conditions was for Ethiopia to contribute financially to the construction of the port but it didn’t take up that option, “The port was financed entirely by DP world and now it’s ready.”
Officials from the Ethiopian government who chose to stay anonymous said that even if the three parties agreed on the ownership, there wasn’t any legal binding document signed by the parties, yet it included financial contribution to the construction.
“Even though Ethiopia lost its ownership, the government of Somaliland didn’t officially inform the government,” said the official.
Currently, DP World owns 65 percent of the port, while the remaining is owned by the government of Somaliland.
According to Dina Mufti, spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs on his weekly press briefing explained that the government still didn’t have any information but has started its investigation.
“Any changes in the concession with regard to giving shares to other parties would have to go through parliament. It’s not an executive issue; it is a legislative one,” said Somaliland’s Finance Minister in an interview with Capital.
“I believe that the important thing is not so much the ownership, but the efficiency which is very important because we would like Berbera to offer the most efficient service in the horn of Africa. So our aim is really to provide an efficient service, it doesn’t matter who owns it,” the Finance Minister added.
Currently, Ethiopia is mainly using ports in Djibouti, while Berbera has served as a way to import aid cargos in the past years.
As Said Hassan, General Manager of Somaliland Port Authority said, the two countries are in discussions to unlock transport of commercial good, “As part of the discussion to complete the transit agreement officials of the Ministry of Transport of Ethiopia will arrive at Berbera at the end of the coming week,” said Said, expressing his hope that it would come to fruition this year.
DP World agreed with the government of Somaliland to invest USD 442 million for the expansion of the old port and development of other facilities.
Presently, the first phase of the expansion project has been completed with operations starting last year July which resulted in the upward capacity from 100,000 TEU to half a million. “So far, DP world has spent approximately 214 million US dollars. We committed to invest up to 442 million US dollars and when we took over the port on March 2017. Following the takeover, we started the expansion project in October 2018,” said Supanchia Wattanaveerachai, CEO of DP world Berbera.
The company is also working to establish an economic free zone to complement the development of the Port of Berbera. As the CEO indicated, the first phase construction of the special zone is expected to be completed at the end of the year.
“The special economic zone is a combination of the increased Berbera port development and will support Somaliland and Ethiopia as it seeks to bolster the export competitiveness of the country,” said Somaliland’s Finance minister.
Somaliland was granted independence on June 26, 1960 from the British colony and immediately recognized by the UN. It then unified with Italy Somaliland, who got independence on July 1, 1960, and formed the then Republic of Somalia.
Berbera port is probably the best location for the eastern part of Ethiopia. The berbera corridor road upgraded project and the Hargeisa Bypass road Corridor will link to the existing modern highway on the Ethiopian side of Somaliland and position Berbera as a direct fast and efficient trade route for Ethiopia, which present an array of benefits to this regard.
The Dubai Company that has been operating a port in Djibouti has agreed with the self-proclaimed Somaliland from Somalia to manage the operation of Berbera Port, one of the oldest ports in the region.