" For many years, Ethiopia has been in need of support from other countries
around the world to reduce hunger among the population. The Government
of Ethiopia (GOE), aiming for greater independence, has introduced a Growth
and Transformation Plan (GTP) that foresees a Food Security Programme,
including measures on industrial and household levels.
On behalf of the Dutch Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a study was carried
out to describe the current state of food processing in Ethiopia (with a focus on
Addis Ababa), with two aims:
• Identify possible interventions that might increase the processing and
preservation of food at all levels, by looking at the current market and it’s
bottlenecks.
• Identify business opportunities for new Dutch, foreign, and Ethiopian food
processing factories for regular and fortified foods, and for new, smallscale processing and storage technologies.
The study was carried out by Johan van der Riet (Agriplan, processing expert),
Yared Sertse (Ethiopian consultant), and Han Soethoudt (Wageningen UR,
senior researcher for national and international food marketing and logistics).
The approach consisted of a short desk study and a one-week mission to Addis
Ababa, including trips to Adama (also known as Nazreth) and Upper Awash.
This report is based on the findings of the desk study and more than twenty
interviews. "