ye-Habtam deHa! Where is the dollar going?

The following two pieces of news articles are a little bit old, nevertheless, as you can read, millions upon millions of dollars are generated from sesame seed export from just the Wolqait area of our country. I am dumbfounded to learn that there is almost no basic development of infrastructure in this part of Ethiopia. Compared to the rest of Tigray where there are constant development of roads, hospitals, clean water and electric services, schools including universities are being built in every corner of Tigray with the exception of Wolqait-Tegede. I also read another news article with the same message as the once attached below. This article which came out just a few day ago (I could not find the source, but will post it as I find it), indicate that export of sesame seed has overtaken export of coffee in terms of the overall GDP of Ethiopia's export. The news indicate that China is the major importer of sesame seed from Ethiopia.
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Ethiopia town exports more sesame to int'l market
UPDATED: 07:59, July 27, 2006
Kefta Humera, north Ethiopia's Tigray state, garnered over 38 million U.S. dollars from export of sesame during the just-ended fiscal year (July 8, 2005-July 7, 2006), customs officials said Wednesday.
Aklilu Lema, senior officer with the Ethiopian Customs Authority, said in a news release that the revenue was obtained from the export of over 510,700 quintals of sesame to international market, 183,000 quintals more than the previous fiscal year.
During the past fiscal year, Ethiopia earned 142 million dollars from export of sesame. At present, the product has a 30 percent share of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), exceeding coffee that contributed a 60 percent share to the GDP three years ago.
The product was shipped to China, Canada, Middle East, Europe and United States and China took the lion's share in Kefta Humera's export of sesame, Aklilu said.
The growing demand of sesame in global market and the increase in exporters engaged in the sector are the major factors for the increase in the volume of export, he said.
Located in the equatorial belt, Ethiopia has an ideal climatic condition that helps in producing sesame. Also, sesame produced in Ethiopia is of top quality.
Ethiopia is among the least developed countries where the economy is primarily agriculture based and quite backward. Like many other nations in Africa, Ethiopia relies greatly on the trade of primary goods.
Source: Xinhua
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China becomes Ethiopia's major export destination
Updated: 15:49, April 23, 2006

Ethiopia said Saturday China has become one of the Horn of Africa country's major export destinations this year.
Tekle Gebre-Hiwot, a senior official of Ethiopian Customs Authority, told journalists that Ethiopia exported to China 175, 000 tons of agricultural products, worth 123 million U.S. dollars, from July 2005 to March 2006.
Ethiopia's export to China before July 2005 was at a low level but it jumped following China's declaration of duty-free market access to African goods, said Tekle.
China has granted Ethiopia and other African countries the right to export 187 varieties of goods produced in the country duty-free, starting in 2005.
During the nine months, Ethiopia's total export to China included 142,825 tons of sesame seeds worth 112 million dollars, 28,594 tons of leather goods, hides and skin worth 10.4 million dollars and 3,712 tons of natural gum worth 275,850 dollars.
Source: Xinhua