One of the poorest countries in the world: Ethiopia
Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. The average annual per capita income per inhabitant is US $ 570 per year. That is very little. Most people live below the poverty line. The causes lie in the recurring droughts and the high growth of the population.
Since the early 1990s, Ethiopia has experienced a development from a socialist planned economy to a freer economy. Nevertheless, there are still companies that are owned by the state, such as aviation or telecommunications. State control is still very strong here.
Agriculture in Ethiopia
Agriculture is the most important thing in Ethiopia. More than 80 out of 100 people live from their products. Yet the harvests are often not enough to feed the families sufficiently. They are then dependent on support from the Ethiopian state or from abroad. This makes the country highly dependent on other countries.
60 percent of the products that Ethiopia exports are agricultural products. The most important thing is the coffee. However, if coffee prices go down, this has an impact on income, which then goes down as well. The farmers then simply earn less. In addition to coffee, millet, wheat, barley, corn, potatoes, sugar cane and several vegetables are grown.
Is there any industry?
There is also a small share of industry, but compared to agriculture it is still very low. Here primarily food is processed, textiles are made, and chemical or metal products are also manufactured. The processing of leather products is also part of this.
Hope in tourism
The country is also putting its hopes in the expansion of tourism. There are several national parks and a varied and diverse landscape that could also attract visitors from other countries to the country.
Coffee
Ethiopia – the country of origin of coffee
Ethiopia is the country of origin of coffee. In Ethiopia this is also called Bunna or Bun in the national languages. By the way, there is a story of how coffee was “discovered” and it is told something like this.
Shepherds who lived in the kingdom of Kaffa, which is now in the southwest of Ethiopia, saw that their goats were running around quite happily and no longer wanted to sleep. Before that, they had nibbled red fruits from a bush. The shepherds told monks who experimented with the fruits and cooked them for a while. They drank the result and suddenly they couldn’t sleep either. The red fruits seemed to be having an effect.
But there are a few more stories about the discovery of the coffee bean. You can find a similar one on the children’s time machine. Here you can also read what a coffee plant looks like.
We don’t know how exactly it was with the “discovery of coffee”. In any case, coffee probably came to the Arab world in the 14th century and continued to spread. Coffee is now grown in many countries around the world. But the place of origin remains Ethiopia and that is why coffee still plays a special role in this country today.
Problems with the water
One of the big problems in Ethiopia is the lack of water. The building of wells is important. In the following video you can see how one tries to help people by building wells.
