Eastern promise … the Chinese-built African Union building is a visible symbol of Ethiopia-China relations. Photograph: Jacoline Prinsloo/GCIS/EPA
It seems unlikely that many Ethiopian farmers sat down and thought about what Chinese consumers want to eat for breakfast before planting their crops. Yet a surge in the eastward export of sesame seed over the past decade has created an unexpected interdependency between the two countries.
In less than a decade, Ethiopia has jumped from being a minor producer of sesame (38,000 tonnes in 2002, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation) to the largest producer in Africa and fourth largest in the world (320,000 tonnes in 2011, according to the most recent data available). During the same period, China has switched from being a net exporter to a net importer, providing the main destination for Ethiopia's sesame seeds.
Sesame seeds perhaps rank among the lesser known of China's growing food imports, lacking the headline-grabbing attention of Brazilian soyabeans. Black sesame paste, eaten at breakfast, lunch and dinner, is a popular snack among many southern Chinese people. It is made by mixing roast and ground sesame seeds with sesame oil; a sweeter version can be made by adding sugar or honey. Its use as a popular baking ingredient aside, sesame seed can be used as an oil or a high-protein feed for poultry.
Ethiopia has long produced sesame, but as China's economic ties with the country and elsewhere in Africa have grown, so has seed production. For Ethiopia, Chinese ties have meant an increase in Chinese manufacturing imports, and access to finance and new infrastructure. In January, the China Development Bank provided a $25m loan to finance agricultural enterprises. In May, the Export-Import Bank of China agreed to provide $3.3bn to build a railway from Ethiopia to Negad port in Djibouti.
In return, Ethiopia has effectively been using sesame seeds to repay Chinese loans. Foreign currency earned by selling sesame is passed over to the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and used to secure and repay loans provided by China, according to Deborah Bräutigam, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. The relationship is likely to have started in 2005-06 as a shortage of sesame seeds in China and a favourable tariff policy (set by China) kickstarted the rise in Ethiopian exports, which are regulated largely by the state-owned Ethiopian commodities exchange.
Bräutigam says China is unlikely to have stipulated that Ethiopia export its sesame, which is now its second most valuable export after coffee. "The 'guaranteed supply' of whatever export is already going to China is simply the mechanism for ensuring repayment of the loan," she says.
However, the growth of sesame seed production on the back of Chinese demand is such that traders expect Ethiopia to earn $2bn a year from exports of seeds, spices and pulses by 2015, according to reports.
Among Ethiopian farmers the main beneficiaries appear to be smallholders, with sesame largely grown as a cash crop on farms producing less than 400kg a year, according to Jo Wijnands, a researcher at the Agricultural Economics Research Institute.
"Production has gone up very quickly," says Wijnands, "but I don't think the huge increases have come through efficiency of production, but with much more land being given over to it. The farmers have seen good prices from the previous year, so they have expanded their area. Demand could change quickly, but I don't think it'll change much in the next five years because of demand from China."
You could argue that sesame seed farmers are generating cash for themselves, at the same time as helping to finance Ethiopia's infrastructure. However, Wijnands is sceptical about the long-term benefit of the increased trade. He says there is little evidence of improvements in agricultural techniques in smallholder sesame seed production. An Oxfam report from 2011 said more than 600,000 smallholder farmers produced sesame seeds in Ethiopia, but still faced difficulties including seed shortages, poor product quality and access to finance.
Recent news of a Chinese shoemaker promising a $2bn investment in a new manufacturing hub near Addis Ababa, the capital, is perhaps more indicative of the benefits Ethiopia hopes to reap from its closer alliance with China. As the Ethiopian prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, made clear in a speech during his recent visit to Beijing, his country does not want a lopsided relationship.
"Africa should not be a net exporter of primary commodities and net importer of capital goods whether from China or elsewhere … China has both the responsibility and the incentive, as it has already begun to do, to turn Africa's resource curse into a blessing that will further enhance the mutual interest of both partners."
In less than a decade, Ethiopia has jumped from being a minor producer of sesame (38,000 tonnes in 2002, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation) to the largest producer in Africa and fourth largest in the world (320,000 tonnes in 2011, according to the most recent data available). During the same period, China has switched from being a net exporter to a net importer, providing the main destination for Ethiopia's sesame seeds.
Sesame seeds perhaps rank among the lesser known of China's growing food imports, lacking the headline-grabbing attention of Brazilian soyabeans. Black sesame paste, eaten at breakfast, lunch and dinner, is a popular snack among many southern Chinese people. It is made by mixing roast and ground sesame seeds with sesame oil; a sweeter version can be made by adding sugar or honey. Its use as a popular baking ingredient aside, sesame seed can be used as an oil or a high-protein feed for poultry.
Ethiopia has long produced sesame, but as China's economic ties with the country and elsewhere in Africa have grown, so has seed production. For Ethiopia, Chinese ties have meant an increase in Chinese manufacturing imports, and access to finance and new infrastructure. In January, the China Development Bank provided a $25m loan to finance agricultural enterprises. In May, the Export-Import Bank of China agreed to provide $3.3bn to build a railway from Ethiopia to Negad port in Djibouti.
In return, Ethiopia has effectively been using sesame seeds to repay Chinese loans. Foreign currency earned by selling sesame is passed over to the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and used to secure and repay loans provided by China, according to Deborah Bräutigam, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. The relationship is likely to have started in 2005-06 as a shortage of sesame seeds in China and a favourable tariff policy (set by China) kickstarted the rise in Ethiopian exports, which are regulated largely by the state-owned Ethiopian commodities exchange.
Bräutigam says China is unlikely to have stipulated that Ethiopia export its sesame, which is now its second most valuable export after coffee. "The 'guaranteed supply' of whatever export is already going to China is simply the mechanism for ensuring repayment of the loan," she says.
However, the growth of sesame seed production on the back of Chinese demand is such that traders expect Ethiopia to earn $2bn a year from exports of seeds, spices and pulses by 2015, according to reports.
Among Ethiopian farmers the main beneficiaries appear to be smallholders, with sesame largely grown as a cash crop on farms producing less than 400kg a year, according to Jo Wijnands, a researcher at the Agricultural Economics Research Institute.
"Production has gone up very quickly," says Wijnands, "but I don't think the huge increases have come through efficiency of production, but with much more land being given over to it. The farmers have seen good prices from the previous year, so they have expanded their area. Demand could change quickly, but I don't think it'll change much in the next five years because of demand from China."
You could argue that sesame seed farmers are generating cash for themselves, at the same time as helping to finance Ethiopia's infrastructure. However, Wijnands is sceptical about the long-term benefit of the increased trade. He says there is little evidence of improvements in agricultural techniques in smallholder sesame seed production. An Oxfam report from 2011 said more than 600,000 smallholder farmers produced sesame seeds in Ethiopia, but still faced difficulties including seed shortages, poor product quality and access to finance.
Recent news of a Chinese shoemaker promising a $2bn investment in a new manufacturing hub near Addis Ababa, the capital, is perhaps more indicative of the benefits Ethiopia hopes to reap from its closer alliance with China. As the Ethiopian prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, made clear in a speech during his recent visit to Beijing, his country does not want a lopsided relationship.
"Africa should not be a net exporter of primary commodities and net importer of capital goods whether from China or elsewhere … China has both the responsibility and the incentive, as it has already begun to do, to turn Africa's resource curse into a blessing that will further enhance the mutual interest of both partners."
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