Moringamania

Daniel Solomon, 38, has been a resident of London, UK, since his high school years. Recently, he came to Addis Abeba for a one-month vacation.

On Tuesday morning, March 18, 2014, he was out and about in the City. When he reached Sierra Leone Street, commonly referred to as the Debrezeit Road, he was up for a big surprise.

After having a long day, Daniel settled down at the Kivan Cafeteria & Restaurant to shelter from the scorching afternoon sun. While looking at the options on the menu, he could not believe his eyes when he saw moringa tea among the long list of drinks.

“Moringa is very expensive in London,” Daniel explains. “For instance, 200gms of moringa costs up to six pounds,” or 191Br.

Daniel says he usually includes the plant in his daily consumption.

“I always try to get my hands on moringa that comes from Ethiopia, every time I get the chance,” he says.

But he was surprised to see moringa being served in a café for such a low price – just eight Birr for a hot cup.

The Londoner uses the moringa powder not only in his tea, but also mixed with all types of different foods. He was even more surprised when he got the chance to enjoy moringa juice in a juice bar at 22 Mazoria.

“I have been using moringa in my diet for years now and I have received a great deal of benefit,”Daniel told Fortune.  “I am energetic in my daily routine and I think I am thinking clearer because of the plant.”

There are about 13 species of moringa trees in the world, and the well-known types are moringa stenopetala and moringa oleifera.

Moringa stenopetala is common in Ethiopia and is better known by its local name Shiferaw or Aleko. In southern Ethiopia, the leaf of the plant is used as a substitute for cabbage in the local diet. It is also used as animal feed.

Moringa is one of the least traded commodities in Ethiopia and the level of consumption is restricted to a few areas of the Southern Region. Yet, the plant is very well known in many parts of the world for its nutritious content,including several nutrients like amino acids, vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants.

Recently,there are some signs of change emerging with the benefits and consumption of the plant.

Kivan, the café Daniel went to, started offering moringa tea three months ago and, according to the owner of the cafe, the number of customers is growing by the day.

“We had only two to three customers for the first two to three weeks,” the owner  told Fortune. “Now we are serving more than 15 cups of moringa tea a day.”

Most of the moringa customers at Kivan are older people who are relatively overweight, but younger people are joining in too.

Ethiopia started research on moringa trees 20 years back, but the last five years have been more fruitful, with support by special training and promotion, says Woubalem Tadesse (PhD), director of Forestry Research at the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).

“The support has played a pivotal role in increasing the awareness of the public about moringa,” Woubalem told Fortune.

The change also applies to the production of moringa, which was limited to the Southern Region. Production is expanding to other regions of the country, contributing to greater consumption, according to the Ministry.

“Our research is restricted to the nutritional value of moringa, but we have a plan to use moringa in cosmetics and pharmaceutical products too,” the director told Fortune.

One among the growing number of companies engaged in the processing and marketing of moringa is Mars Moringa. Awel Sheta, born and raised in Konso, one of the eight special woreda administrations in the Southern Region, is the owner of Mars Moringa. Awel collects and processes his product in Konso, one of the major growers of the product in Ethiopia.

In his early days, Awel used to buy a bundle of moringa from the farmers for just 10 cents, but now this has reached five Birr. Most farmers supply their produce to moringa processors for 50 Br a kilo, on average.

“We buy all the moringa we use from residents of our village, in Segen Zone,” Awel told Fortune.

When he started production two years ago, Awel relied on family labour to process three kilos of moringa. Now Mars Moringa has hired 16 workers and produces over 500kgs of packed moringa.

“Our production has increased exponentially, because of the increasing demand,” says Awel.

Marse Moringa has plans to export its product to different destinations in the near future.

Most of the supermarkets in the City have started including moringa on their shelves.

One of these, Abadir Supermarket, is located at Arat Kilo in Arada District. The Supermarket started selling moringa eight months ago, says its market supervisor, Mohammed Nur. The supermarket used to sell three to four pieces of a 200gm pack in earlier months, now, Mohammed says, it has grown to 30 pieces.

The Supermarket avails both industrial packed and home packed brands, of which the former accounts for a larger share of the sell.

The price of 225gm of Ethio moringa is sold for 53 Br and the price of 200gm of other types of moringa is 43 Br.

Currently, there are more than 25 moringa shops in Addis Abeba. Shops are also found in Adama (99km from Addis Abeba in the East Shewa Zone of Oromia), Mekelle (780km from Addis Abeba in the Tigray Region), Arba Minch (446km from Addis Abeba in Gamo Gofa Zone of the South Region), Awassa (273km from Addis Abeba in the Southern Region), Jimma (380km from Addis Abeba in the Jimma Zone of the Oromia Region) and Dire Dawa (515km from Addis Abeba in Dire Dawa City Administration).

According to Dechasa Jeru, a former agro forestry expert at the MoA, who has studied the plant for a long time, moringa is the cultural food for 14 nationalities in the South Region and constitutes 50pc of their food intake. The three main nutritional values of moringa include carbohydrates, vitamins and protein.

Moringa can only grow at an altitude of less than 2,000m, and it can be harvested in just a year’s time.

Girma Eshete, another agro forestry expert, who is engaged in the new expansion of moringa project with the government, says that the attitude of the people about moringa is now changing due mainly to the promotion.

There are many studies underway on how moringa could fight against diabetes, cataracts and many other diseases, he said.

Moringa production requires a transformation, says Woubalem, to meet the growing demand.

So far, two investors have been engaged in the production of moringa, while there are seven potential producers of moringa that are in the pipeline to start investment in the plant, according to the Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) under the Ministry.

The two investors-Aron Moringa and Delta Moringa- have started production in the Amhara and Oromia regions. While Delta is investing around Bahir Dar town, 549km from Addis Abeba in the Amhara Region, Aron has started production in Yabello, one of the woredas in the Borena Zone of the Oromia Region, 563km from Addis Abeba.

Tesfaye Temesgen, the owner of Aron, started the production of moringa four years ago on a plot of land in Awassa town, 273km from Addis Abeba, belonging to his family. Producers trained by the Institute supply produced moringa for Aron.

Aron took 80 ha of land from the Oromia Regional Government in Yabello last Thursday. He is in  the process of taking out a bank loan.

The size of the plot matters in the production of moringa because one moringa tree can only produce one and a half kilograms of moringa powder, says Tesfaye.

“I have a plan to start moringa oil and soap production in the next year and we have prepared all the preconditions, including the research for the production of these commodities,” he told Fortune.

While its current capital stands at four million Birr, Aron estimates that the next project will take 15 million Br, excluding the production of oil and soap.

Bahir Dar, Adama, Gambella (771km from Addis Abeba in the Gambella Region), Shewa Robit (191km from Addis Abeba in the North Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region) and Jinka (588km from Addis Abeba in the South Omo Zone of the South Region), are five selected places that are more suitable for the production of moringa, according to a study entitled  – “Commercialisation of Moringa Production in Ethiopia” – conducted by the Institute in June, 2013.