RELATED THEMES
agriculture
communications
food security

OTHER LOCAL THEMES
culture and customs
development
education
environment
family life
food security
gender
health
history
identity
justice and crime
land
livestock
migration
population
resettlement
social institutions
social relationships
spiritual beliefs
traditional skills

BACKGROUND
introducing the area

economics

 quotes about economics
 key testimonies featuring economics

trader in EthiopiaThe sharp rise in the cost of living is a frequent complaint and source of anxiety. The price of foodstuffs and other essential goods seems to have risen as much as tenfold. Livestock, on the other hand, fetch only just over half the price they used to sell for, yet many people are forced to sell animals in order to survive. Several say that the poorer farmers must find some labouring work each year if they are to feed their families, since their own crops will be insufficient.

On a positive note, the trading and business opportunities opened up by the new road are appreciated by several narrators. "If I hear the price of something is soaring in one market I will go to another market where it is cheap, buy from there and sell it at the marketplace where it is expensive," said one entrepreneur farmer (Ethiopia 1).

quotes about economics

"When there was sufficient crop being produced, an ox used to be sold for 1,000 birr and a cow for 1,100 birr. As there is no food crop now, a person who starves decides to sell his animal for five or six hundred birr. A fattened goat or sheep used to sell for 300 birr, but rather than slaughtering it, the farmer prefers to sell it for 180-190 birr and buy food with the money to feed his starving children. "
Belay, M/41, blacksmith/farmer, Ethiopia 7

"In the old days.50 kilos of teff (staple crop) cost about 15 birr; now it costs 100 birr or more. A farmer used to pay 10 cents for a bar of soap then; now he pays one birr. A child's shirt was bought for just one birr then; now it is 10 birr. Why were prices of agricultural products so cheap then? Because crop and livestock production were higher. Now industrial production has increased, but prices have also shot up. So there is inflation of prices now. "
Muliye, M/37, farmer, Ethiopia 15

"... if I have livestock and I sell one of them I can buy fertiliser now and increase my yield. But if you are poor and have no money or livestock to sell, then you have to cultivate the land without fertiliser, and maybe the land will not even give you any yield or will not produce enough crops to last you for the year. So unless he is employed as a manual labourer the farmer cannot feed his family until the next cropping season."
Yekaba, F/25, farmer/female head of household, Ethiopia 8

key testimonies featuring economics


  No.   Name   Sex/Age   Occupation   Location  
Summary Transcript   1   Ayichesh   female/28   head of household   Gala Dejen (highlands)  
Summary Transcript   10   Hamza   male/28   farmer   Gumar  
Summary Transcript   12   Mesele   male/55   farmer   Jirile (midlands)  
Summary Transcript   14   Itiye   female/58   traditional midwife   Gebeya Meda (highlands)  
Summary Transcript   15   Muliye   male/37   farmer   (midlands)  
Summary Transcript   16   Mekonen   male/72   priest   Ganchire Gebriel  
Summary Transcript   17   Melku   male/67   priest   Guranboba Monastery (highlands)  
Summary Transcript   19   Yaregal   male/41   farmer trained in beekeeping   Warkaye  
Summary Transcript   2   Negussie   female/45   market trader   Filaqit, Woina Dega (midlands)  
Summary Transcript   20   Melese   male/45   farmer   Denkena,Wodih Mado Mar Feriche (highlands)  
Summary Transcript   21   Mario   male/40   farmer   Filaqit town (midlands)  
Summary Transcript   6   Belay   male/18   student priest   Kurrisa (lowlands)  
Summary Transcript   7   Belay   male/41   blacksmith/farmer   Doba Giorgis (highlands)  
Summary Transcript   9   Haji Zekiy   male/57   Qadi (Muslim religious leader)   Tcherqos village (highlands)