The
diseconomics of “chat”: Is it a cash crop or is it crashing the fragile
Ethiopian economy?
By Wondirad
Seifu, February 18, 2006, The
Reporter
There is a raging controversy among historians in which some
argue that ‘chat’ was initially grown in Ethiopia and
then introduced into Yemen. Others argue the other
way round. Nonetheless, as far as
Ethiopian is concerned, chat used to mainly grown in the
south- eastern part of the country.
Its consumption was also limited to this area as par t of religious
rituals.
.
Chat is a green plant containing an active substance
chemically known as cathinon, which in fresh chat has a pronounced
influence on mental activity, including other body systems. Cathinon has a
limited lifetime that and, converted in to its weak state, is known as cathine,
following a day-long time that the chat leaf is cut off from its host tree.
Bundles of khat
leaves
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However, at present, chat is
produced and chewed in all regions of the country where formerly its
commercial value was unknown and a person who chewed it was perceived by
the society as odd, mad or both. Chat is now available in the country’s
markets with various trade names usually referring to their places of
origin: Awedai, Gelemeso, Wendo, Sebeta, etc.
Surprisingly, as an exception, there is a chat known by
the trade name of “COLOMBIA”. It is produced in the northern part of the
country, around Bahir Dar city. It is difficult for me to establish the
reason why it assumed such a foreign country’s name, although chat was
hardly known in the area a couple of decades ago. Earlier, a bundle of the
same chat, now called Colombia, was sold for less than a birr. Now Colombia
is sold in Addis, measured in grams and commanding a very high price.
Through evolution and revolution, chat has evolved as
one of the leading export commodities of the country in which much has been
done by the latter following the fall of the Derg. As part of the chat
revolution, a significant portion of the peasants have switched to the
production of chat by abandoning what they had produced previously. They believed that chat is a good cash
crop as the government gives due recognition to it officially and proud of
its cash-generating potential for the economy.
It is undeniable that the government’s agricultural
blueprint known as Agricultural Development-Led Industrialization (ADLI)
has fostered chat’s development in a bid to foster international trade in
the commodity.
Until recently chat was sold in very limited areas in
Addis. Now you can find it everywhere in the city in chain stores and even
in political corridors. As such, with misconceptions and confusions, the
consumption of chat has been regarded as fashionable for teenagers, a
desirable habit for the unemployed, a socialisation lubricant for all
age-groups and an unavoidable addiction for some as well as a stimulant and
an energizer for both white and blue-collar workers. It is outrageous to
see the proliferation of chat-chewing houses with various style, size and
service charge. There are highly congested chewing houses with a service
charge ranging from 0.5 to one birr, not including the chat’s price. There
are also such houses with complete accommodation of up to 50 birr and
above. It is rather frustrating to come across kids under 15 chewing chat
to their heart’s content. It is such type of temporary feeling that you
would borrow from the cathinone of fresh chat. It is with extensive chewing
of chat that cathinone is readily available for maximum effect.
An affinity to alcoholic drink is claimed to be one of
the outcomes of chewing chat in such a way as it delays intoxication and
boosts the appetite for excessive alcoholic consumption. Then it leads you
to totally deny recognition of the existence of anything, even yourself,
leave alone AIDS.
Consider about 300 Kebeles in Addis with a modest
assumption of 10 to 30 chat chewing houses in each Kebele along with their
customers of 20 to 25 persons a day. Please note that these figures do not
include those who chew in private houses, cars, work place and open spaces.
With such figures, what would be the social, economic,
cultural, health etc implications of chat? It is fearful to imagine a chat
addicted and work-disoriented society. If you project the problem to the
national level, the diseconomies of chat will boil down to a negative
magnitude that would not be recovered by the income generated from the chat
economy.
In search of the solution for the chat’s problem,
banning the leaf would be in immediate proposition.
Unfortunately , to ban is too bad since I heard an
incident in which a truck driver was severely beaten by a host of
disgruntled chat chewers blaming him for coming too late from the time he
was expected to arrive. A policeman then brought the situation under
control. He furiously warned the poor driver not to commit such a grave
mistake again.
Apparently, the chat chewing habit has entrenched itself
deep in the society. Therefore, priority should be given to the youth who
are chanting the slogan: “Better to chew chat than sitting idle”. This
calls for employment opportunities. The other method would be to discourage
peasants from producing chat and let the planners plan for zero-level
export earnings from chat. Importantly, political leaders should
demonstrate their social responsibility by reversing the chat revolution
ahead of harming the Ethiopian fragile economy.
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