Feature - Plummeting coffee prices lead to khat upsurge

In Ahmed Mume’s village they grow some of the finest coffee in the world. But this year, the 50-year-old will not be harvesting any beans. The father of eight has ripped up his crop and is planning to export a drug he is growing for the first time. Ahmed has turned to khat – a mild stimulant banned in north America and many countries in Europe – to make ends meet and help put his children through school. “The only option we having is growing khat,” Ahmed said while standing in his field in Deder village some 550 km east of the capital Addis Ababa. “Almost all the farmers in the area have done the same because the prices for coffee are so low,” he added from his one-hectare plot in east Haraghe. LUCRATIVE REWARDS The rewards are lucrative. Income from growing khat is up to five times higher than coffee. It is easier to grow and unlike coffee can be harvested twice a year. When chewed the drug can lead to hallucinations, emaciation, and impotence. Researchers also warn that it can lead to mouth cancer. The upsurge in khat production and consumption has alarmed international organisations campaigning on behalf of impoverished third world coffee growers. The international charity Oxfam says that coffee-reliant economies in Latin America and Africa are on the brink of collapse, due to low prices, and now farmers are supplementing them by growing drugs. It warned on Tuesday that within 10 years Ethiopia’s coffee growing areas may be turned over to fields of khat to meet the massive demand for the drug. Phil Bloomer, head of Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair campaign, said that 25 million farmers across the globe have been hard hit by plummeting prices. “Coffee prices are lower in real terms than they have been for the last 100 years and it is fast becoming a cashless cash crop,” he said. “Coffee companies’ half hearted response to the crisis is forcing 25 million coffee farmers over the edge, as well as fuelling the production of drugs around the world.” Oxfam points to alarming figures which show that while revenue in coffee has slumped in the last five years, khat exports have doubled. In Ethiopia – traditionally known as the birthplace of coffee where the crop has been growing for 3,000 years - earnings have dropped from 70 percent to 35 percent in the space of just five years. According to the Ethiopian government, the collapse in coffee prices has cost the country some US $830 million in lost export earnings over the past five years. KHAT CONCERN Oxfam's attack comes as coffee farmers, industry representatives and international institutions from all over the world were due to meet in Geneva on Tuesday to discuss the coffee crisis. Oxfam is hoping to force the issue onto the political agenda and bring about a change in the lives of coffee farmers. Earlier this year the United Nations also expressed concern about sharp increases in khat consumption, blaming it on despondent farmers concerned for their future. “They do not seem to be very positive or hopeful and confident about their future,” said the report by the UN’s Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia. Although countries like the US, Canada, Sweden and Norway have banned khat it is still widely consumed in the Horn of Africa – particularly Somalia and Djibouti. A ton a day is also shipped in to the UK where, according to Oxfam, illegal gangs generate an annual turnover of US $150 million smuggling it into the United States. “We are trying to increase the quality of coffee and help farmers by cutting taxes, but the external market needs to change to help us out of this mess,” said Kassahun Hirutu, head of trade and control of coffee in Ethiopia. “The big question is how can we recover from this situation,” he added from his office in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. Ethiopian farmers are paid less than 10 US cents a kilo for coffee, which will sell in western countries for around US $26. Five years ago they received six times that amount. Khat brings in over US $9 a bushel. Ayale Abdulahi is one of the last farmers in his village to continue growing coffee. But he says if conditions persist he too will rip up his crop. “Our ancestors grew coffee,” he says. “It is our history. But I will not show my children because you cannot live anymore growing coffee.” The scale of the crisis surrounding coffee is evident just a few kilometres away. While farmers should be harvesting their beans, this year they are queuing for food aid.