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New route opens promising future for specialty coffee

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BY www.capitalethiopia.com Photo from Social Media A new asphalt road that links the source of Ethiopian specialty coffee grower of Bensa Woreda of the Sidama Zone with  the regional center of Hawassa was inaugurated in the presence of top government officials on Tuesday April 21.  The 51 km concrete asphalt road project is constructed by a local contractor Alemayehu Ketema General Contractor at a cost of 427 million birr. Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn inaugurated the road that links three weredas of the Sidama Zone with the SNNPS regional state seat. The contractor was pressed hard to complete the assignment on schedule as the project stretches  across difficult terrain and a long rainy season that is common in the SNNPS had reduced the pace of the work. A revision of the project’s design that was made after the contract was awarded was another challenge on the work.   The road that reaches  Bensa will surely have  high economic value to making possible transportation of 

Alle Bejimla Opens Shop in Hawassa

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By allAfrica.com Alle Bejimla has inaugurated its first outlet outside of Addis Abeba, in Hawassa, on Wednesday April 22, 2015. The outlet, which was planned together with another three, will follow in a month's time in Shashemene, Bahir Dar and Dessie, became an addition to the existing four in Addis Abeba. Alle, a wholesale supermarket established in 2013 in an effort to bring modern and reliable trade practices, became operational in May 2014. Alle's target customers are retailers, consumers' associations, service providers like hotels and restaurants, and the newly added one, civil servant unions. Currently, the enterprise has about 4,000 regular customers The registration of customers in Hawassa will start soon the outlet inauguration. The inaugural ceremony at Hawassa was attended by Ali Siraj, state minister of Trade, and officials from the Trade Practice and Consumers Protection Authority, Public Procurement & Property Administration Agency, an

Government Aims to Quadruple Coffee Production in Five-Years

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Coffee study recommends structural reform to maximize high quality production By addisfortune.net The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), in concert with the Ministry of Trade (MoT) has finalised a Coffee Development Strategy that will be used to boost coffee production in the second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) over the next five years. The strategy, developed after a six-month study conducted by Agrear Consultant, is targeted at raising the current coffee production capacity of the country by four fold. Agrear began the study in April 2014 and completed it within six months at a cost of 200,000 euros, availed by the European Union. “The study was initiated by the belief that as coffee is a permanent plant, the trading should depend on quality and it should be supported by special extension programmes,” said Fikru Amene, coffee development director at the MoA. “We did not achieve the plan that we set for the GTP I, which also triggered the study.” The coun

Ethiopia drafting new law to stiffen punishments for human trafficking

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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia –   Ethiopia is drafting a new law to stiffen punishments for human trafficking. The Ministry of Justice old state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate that human smuggling is increasing alarmingly. Ethiopians are among Africans who are trying to reach Europe, and dying en route. Ethiopia's current laws stipulate prison terms ranging from five to 20 years for crimes related to human smuggling and a maximum fine of $2,500. Ethiopia's Foreign Minister, Tedros Adhanom, told Parliament last week that most smugglers of Ethiopian migrants are Ethiopians. He said the smugglers have established networks in different migration routes. Ethiopian officials said they are working to bring migrants home. The Ethiopian Ambassador in Egypt, Mohammed Dirir, said more than 190 Ethiopian migrants in the Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghazi have registered to return home. Fox News

Ethiopia: Rethinking Basic Income in a Sharing Society

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Few debates highlight the moral issues around how wealth is shared across society more than the growing demand for a universal and unconditional basic income. At face value, the idea of receiving a regular income from the state presents a fair and inclusive solution to the financial constraints many people face in a consumerist society--especially at a time when unemployment and inequality are on the rise. But it's not clear whether a guaranteed citizen's income would ultimately help or hinder the creation of truly sharing societies, in which 'freedom from want' can be achieved within a re distributive economic framework that reinforces the social ties that bind people and communities together. The arguments in favour of a basic income are persuasive and should not be dismissed lightly. Aside from the clear case for reforming means-tested benefit systems that are failing many targeted claimants, there's the question of how to maintain decent wage levels when j

Rising Hawassa set to attract more investors

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   Hawassa has grown explosively in recent years. After 30 years of its establishment, Hawassa is serving as the capital of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples State (SNNPS) since 1991. The 57 years old town consists of eight sub-cities and 32 kebelles. The total population of the town is estimated to be 350,000. The Ethiopian Herald recently conducted an exclusive interview with Mayor of Hawassa Town Administration, Yonas Yosef on the development progress of the town. Hawassa has been undertaking various projects aimed at reducing poverty. The administration has given prime attention to the development of infrastructure, construction, trade, and social services among others. Yonas noted that Hawassa town has got its name from the name of “Lake Hawassa.” 'Hawassa' means 'big' in Sidama language. Hawassa was chosen as urban centre due to its natural beauty and attractiveness of the area around. Before 1960, the place was not inhabited by many people,

Ethiopia: It Is Painful, but Ethiopians Will Thrive

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These are trying times for Ethiopia, with tragedies befallen on many Ethiopians over the past consecutive weeks, due to the inhumane brutality faced by fellow citizens in South Africa, Yemen and most recently Libya. It is as if grief has its own domino effect, which makes one painful event follow an even more gruesome one. In what seems to be an unending tribal clash in Yemen, Ethiopians got stranded between the fires of the fighting tribes with little hope of getting away from the place. A worsening security situation in the country, considered strategic in some senses, means that the hopes of the Ethiopians there decline with each incident. Of course, authorities tried to evacuate some that managed to communicate with them. But the number of those evacuated was far lower than the number of Ethiopians that live in the country or are staying there until they manage to emigrate to the Middle Eastern countries that are their intended destinations. Read more