"We call it green gold," says Ramadan Youssouf, a khat trader in the Ethiopian town of Aweday, one of the largest markets in the
"The prices are too low," Mohamed Ibro, a 45-year-old trader, says with a grimace, after an unusually rainy dry season resulted in an overly abundant harvest.Traders also complain about an increase in taxes and the recent tightening of conditions for exporters to obtain a commercial licence. Men carrying large green bundles on their shoulders jostle against each other as they walk down the narrow aisles packed with tin-roofed shacks selling khat and other products.As farmers hand over their harvest, traders examine the leaves and weigh the bundles before they agree on a price."My hand is the scale," says Saada, a 30-year-old shopkeeper assessing the quality of a bouquet estimated to weigh several kilos.
Between 2019 and 2022, khat represented around 10 percent of national exports, according to figures from Ethiopia's Central Bank.