Concepedia

Abstract

Ethiopia is one of the least developed countries in the world, yet it has a natural endowment of adequate land mass, generally fertile soils, sufficient rainfall, and a considerable variety of climates and elevations.' This natural resource base and the existence of a large, hardworking peasantry indicate that Ethiopia has enormous agrarian potential, but unfortunately a potential far from realization. More than 85 percent of the 25 million Ethiopian people earn their livelihood from subsistence agriculture. Total agricultural output is 55-60 percent of gross domestic product (one of the highest such figures in the world), and the nonmonetary sector is probably 75 percent of this total. The monetary sector of agrieulture accounts for more than 90 percent of exports, with some 60 percent of this figure depending on coffee. Finally, the annual growth rate in agriculture during the last decade averaged about 2.4 percent, which is probably less than the overall population growth during the same period. As a result, Ethiopia has one of the lowest per capita income levels in the world.