In the context of Ethiopa's National Green Export Review (NGER), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Green Product Space methodology was used to quantitatively identify highly competitive green agricultural products for which Ethiopia has been shown to have a comparative advantage in production and export. Of those identified, national stakeholders decided to focus on green products produced in the leather sector and the sesame seed sector, as these have the highest export potential, would result in the greatest improvement of local environmental conditions, and would generate the highest number of new jobs, particularly for the rural poor, women and youth.
The National Green Export Review of Ethiopia: Leather and Sesame Seeds reviews global trends in the leather and sesame seed sectors, the role of these sectors in Ethiopia's national economy, and Ethiopia's export policy framework, performance, and competitiveness in these sectors. It also presents a SWOT analysis that identifies barriers to enhanced performance in these sectors and provides recommendations for overcoming these barriers, including capacity building along value chains, improving finance and access to credit, expanding road infrastructure to reduce transport costs and facilitate labor supply, and more.