Ethiopia generated $490 million from horticultural exports during the 2025/26 fiscal year, while flower sales dominated revenue at $412 million. The Ministry of Agriculture announced the figures alongside an ambitious $575 million target for the upcoming 2026/27 export cycle.
For years, observers watched Ethiopia’s flower farms face administrative hurdles that threatened the country’s export momentum. That bottleneck has finally broken as the Ethiopian government resolved long-awaited title deed requests for major operations including Shere Ethiopia, AQ Rose, Herberg Rose, and Zeway Rose. This shift pairs with strategic land allocations for new investors and expansions in the Welkita and Wolaita-Soda horticulture export development clusters.
Export Revenue Breakdown and Fiscal Year Targets
The Ministry of Agriculture confirmed in a statement issued Friday that the country earned 490 million U.S. dollars from horticultural commodities during the 2025/26 Ethiopian fiscal year, which concluded on July 7. Flower exports accounted for the largest share of total revenue generated from the sector during the concluded fiscal year, amounting to 412 million dollars, it said. Data from the ministry also showed that vegetable exports generated 57 million dollars, while the country earned about 21 million dollars from fruit exports during the reporting period.
Looking ahead to the 2026/27 cycle, the East African country plans to export 357,450 tonnes of horticultural products during the 2026/27 fiscal year, with the aim of generating 575 million dollars. To enhance the horticulture sector’s contribution to national export trade, the ministry emphasized the need to improve global competitiveness by increasing both the volume and quality of exported goods. Enhanced stakeholder collaboration and broader investment incentives were also highlighted as critical steps toward achieving targets set for the current fiscal year and beyond.
Shifting Economic Realities for Farm Operators
While the new land measures provide relief, the operational environment for both established flower farm operators and new entrants has transformed significantly. Mekonnen Solomon, a former Director of Horticultural Investment, Ministry of Agriculture in Ethiopia, notes that producers now navigate factors such as the transition to a performance-based duty-free incentive scheme, the opening up of trading regulations for foreigners that were previously restricted only to domestic investors, and the move from fixed to a floating foreign exchange.
Additional pressures compound these regulatory changes. Producers face the introduction of rural land administrative use as well as seed Proclamation, the introduction of regional new tariff for irrigation water, the gradual modification of urban master plan and land lease rates, and the global rising of jet fuel as well as price of imported agro chemicals, raw materials and planting materials and the accompanied rise of cost of living. Variable costs, including fertilizers, crop protection, packing, transport, and marketing, dominated the budget, often comprising 70 to 75 percent of total expenses.
Historical Benchmarks and Capital Investment Costs
Modernizing these operations requires examining the foundational economics established fourteen years ago, guided by the Quantitative Unified Economic Information for the Rose Flower Sub-Sector (QUINR), a meticulously crafted blueprint that offered foreign investors and local pioneers a clear roadmap for their success. Prepared by experts under the Ethiopia-Netherlands Horticulture Partnership, that framework provided precise estimates for greenhouse hardware, labor benchmarks, marketing margins across various altitudes, and detailed revenue projections for popular cultivars across key altitudes of Ziway, Bishoftu, and Holeta, while distinguishing between standard and above-standard farm models.
For a ten-hectare operation, new investment values ranged from approximately €2.25 million for standard setups to €2.76 million for advanced ones, with annual fixed costs, including depreciation and interest on equity, translating to between €6.31 and €7.86 per square meter. These figures accounted for the complex infrastructure required, such as greenhouses, post-harvest facilities, irrigation, cold stores, and energy systems, notably highlighting the necessity of backup generators due to the prevailing unreliability of the electricity supply.
Broader Export Performance and Next Steps
The horticulture gains sit within a broader national economic expansion. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said recently that the country generated a record 11 billion dollars in total export revenue during the just-concluded 2025/26 fiscal year. The government attributed the record annual export revenue to strong performance across key export sectors, mainly gold, coffee, and other major export commodities.
To hit the newly minted targets, the Ministry of Agriculture emphasized enhanced stakeholder collaboration and broader investment incentives as critical steps for the current fiscal year and beyond.
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