Ethiopia’s Green Gold
© Michele Spatari / AFP
The plant of khat, which has a history of cultivation originating in the Harar region, is an euphoric recreational stimulant chewed throughout the Horn of Africa. Khat is one of Ethiopia’s main export products but in the Harar region and in the neighboring areas of East Hararghe and West Hararghe, which concentrate half of Ethiopia’s 281,000 hectares of khat fields, the 3.8 million growers are feeling downcast due to a significant shrinking of khat prices.
