Land Resource, Uses, and Ownership in Ethiopia: Past, Present and Future (original) (raw)

Land Expropriation and Compensation Payment in Ethiopia: Review

In Ethiopia, land is the main economic, political, social and cultural asset. It is the crucial source of generating livelihood income for society. It remains an asset that farmers have to accumulate wealth and transfer the same to future generation. Rural farmers and pastoralists are guaranteed a plot of land free of charge while urban residents can secure the same through ground lease arrangements. Thus, this paper aimed to review the state of land expropriation and compensation payment in Ethiopia. Expropriation occurs when a public agency (for example, the provincial government and its agencies, regional districts, municipalities, school boards and utilities) takes property for a purpose deemed to be in the public interest, even though the owner of the property may not be willing to sell it. Thus, land expropriation to the periphery is aggravated by development projects such as industry, infrastructure, communication and road networks. Displacement due to land expropriation is more significant issue in developing countries than developed countries because, the majority of the people in developing countries live highly concentrated in the periphery depending on agriculture with fragmented land holdings. This is common in countries like Ethiopia where land remains government's property and amount of compensation paid depends on government's decision. The urban land lease policy is not very friendly to rural households land in general and the poor land holders in particular. The policy implementation process has not taken in to account the life of rural peasants living in vicinity of cities. As a result, the implementation of the policy has been marginalizing the rural settled peasant communities. The non-farm based economic sector was not able to absorb those displaced farmers, as most of them are unskilled labour. Thus, Land expropriation and compensation issues takes more policy and implementation emphasis.

Land Rights and Expropriation in Ethiopia

Springer Theses, 2015

This study examines and analyses the expropriation laws and practices in Ethiopia. The objective of the thesis is to analyze and describe the land rights and expropriation laws in Ethiopia and to compare them with the practice in order to determine the fairness of compensation. The study is made against the Ethiopian Constitution and other subsidiary legislations which provide the basic land rights and the nature and details of expropriation. The basic argument made in this thesis is that even if the Ethiopian Constitution provides and guarantees common ownership of land (together with the state) to the people, this right has not been fully realized whether in terms of land accessibility, enjoyablity, and payment of fair compensation in the event of expropriation. The reasons have to do either with the faulty nature of the laws or with their implementation by public authorities. From the outset, the constitution excludes land as a subject of compensation. For this reason, land is being excluded from the compensation package and hence it has no value for the holder. Urban land holders are denied location value of their property, which they can collect it otherwise during sale, and hence the compensation becomes unfair. Similarly, rural farmers are denied compensation for the complete loss of their farm land. The denial of compensation for the value of the land is categorically in contradiction with the very principle of joint ownership of land by the people and the state. There are also other reasons which are related to the law or its practical applicability, such as valuation process which reduces the amount of compensation. There are also property interests which are not included as compensable interests. Payment of compensation is one factor for secure property right and hence sustainable development. To ensure fair compensation in the event of compensation, a legal and policy level reform is necessary to address and amend the existing problems. Further, to harmonize the laws and practices is imperative to reduce the amount of injustice existed in today's expropriation procedure in Ethiopian.

LAND TENURE SYSTEM IN ETHIOPIA: ISSUES, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

2019

Ethiopia is an agrarian country where land has been the major means of production and livelihood. Tenure rules help to define how property rights to land are allocated within societies. Our paper aims on discovering the issues of land tenure system in Ethiopia along with its challenges and opportunities. Ethiopia has complex land tenure system. Land had been controlled by elite king until Derg Regime came in power in 1975 with slogan "Land to the Tiller" but ended up owning the land itself rather giving it to the people. The existing government that controlled power in 1991 maintained the Derg's state ownership and new constitution 1995 approved the state ownership of land in Ethiopia. Farmers have only usufruct right to land which raise issue on food sovereignty. Food insecurity has a disproportionate impact's on Ethiopia's economy. There have been lots of people and dozens of parties arguing for private landowner ship, the debate on this issue continues till this day, as ratification of 1995 constitution could not conclude the controversial and throny issue. As a result, farmers who are interested in agriculture sometimes face credit constraint as banks find it more risky to lend to such business, which affects the level of production since agaric inputs are expensive Thus, a policy has to be drawn to facilitate more efficient transactions of land between farmers and to minimize inefficiencies associated with these tenure systems. 2 |Land Tenure System in Ethiopia

Access to Rural Land Rights in the Post-1991 Ethiopia: Unconstitutional Policy Shift

Journal of land and rural studies, 2019

In an agrarian society, like Ethiopia, where lion share of the population relies on land rights for livelihoods and welfare, access to land is fundamental to be capable of existence as a free and dignified human being. Otherwise, it can also be used a political asset for political control and to impoverish the societal well-being. With the opinion of historical pitfalls and injustices and the tremendous holistic contribution of access to rural land rights in Ethiopia, the constitutional makers of the post-1991 Ethiopia have incorporated the egalitarian concept of 'free access to land for all needy nationals'. However, the content analysis of the legislation framed aftermath of the 1995 FDRE Constitution reveals the introduction of a policy shift towards land regionalism and market-based land access, because, it has attached regional residency requirement, prioritised to investors and model peasants and introduced land use payment in contradiction to the constitutional rule. Hence, this author argues for the restoration of the Constitutional principle of access to land rights.

Priceless land: valuation and compensation of expropriated farmland in the Amhara region, Ethiopia

Journal of Eastern African Studies, 2020

In Ethiopia, farmland belongs to 'the people' (the state) and cannot be sold or bought, but compensatory measures have been introduced for land expropriated for infrastructure and industry. The article analyses processes of valuation and compensation of land in Kombolcha district in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. Here numerous projects have affected highly productive farmland over the last decade. Monetary compensation to land holders whose farmland is expropriated is relatively new in Ethiopia, and we explore how peasants and authorities gradually have attained increased competence in dealing with land valuation and compensation, faced with often obscure and contradictory legislation.

Assessing the Tenure Security and Social Equity under Ethiopia Land Policy.

International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research , 2021

The 1995 Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) Constitution declared the continuity of Derg land policy of state ownership. The argument forwarded by the ruling body for the continuation of Derg land policy as public or state property is to ensure tenure security and social equity. Based on these points the paper in its objective focused on the rationality behind of continuing Derg’s land policy: whether for addressing the issue of tenure security and social equity, or other rationality. To address these issues the writer employed doctrinal type of methods because it mainly based on review of secondary sources of data that includes short writing on the subject matter or paper or books or journals. It adds personal observation. The result of review of different literature clearly indicates that the debate as to land policy from the transition period is more of ideological/political ambitions rather than being based on theoretical foundation and emperical argument. The previous and current government has taken an interventionist approach to land for political power than ensuring tenure security and social equity. The other is private or state ownership of land policy centered only on single tenure arrangement ignoring opinions and interest of concerned society at large, and social, cultural and historical contexts of the larger society. As a result of this until today the issue of tenure security and social equity as to land remain unanswered in Ethiopia.

Land Reform in Ethiopia: Recommendations for Reform

2011

The challenges of land tenure in Ethiopia are part of a complex policy problem that stem from failed attempts at agricultural modernization and the consolidation of state power. Several significant problems have brought Ethiopia's land tenure laws to the attention of international observers. Food Insecurity. Food insecurity has made Ethiopia a center of development efforts in Africa. It is estimated that 44 percent of Ethiopians are chronically or acutely undernourished. 1 Undernourishment has largely been attributed to Ethiopia's susceptibility to famine, the most recent of which was the root cause of the food crisis of 2002-2003. 2 Rural Poverty. Agriculture makes up 50.7 percent of Ethiopia's GDP, 3 meaning that food insecurity has a disproportionate impact on Ethiopia's total economy. Malnourishment decreases productivity, which then increases poverty as part of a downward cycle of food insecurity and poverty, 4 Landlessness and Land Poverty. High rates of rural landlessness and land poverty exacerbate food insecurity and poverty. Forty-three percent of rural Ethiopians have no access to land and fully 60 percent lack sufficient land to grow enough food for a family of five. 5 Land Expropriations for Foreign Investment. Recent years have seen an increase in land contracts between Ethiopia's government and foreign agriculture investors for "unused" land. This land is typically arid or semi-arid pastoral grazing land in lowland areas of Oromia, Afar, Gambella, Southern Nations, Nationalities, Republics and Peoples (SNNPR), and Benishangul Gumuz regions held under unregistered customary tenure arrangements. Large farming operations displace pastoralists, monopolize resources, and degrade the land, causing increasingly bloody conflicts among pastoral clans over resources. Drought is not solely responsible for these problems. The roots of Ethiopia's food security, poverty, landlessness, and expropriation problems lie in deficiencies in education, infrastructure, business environment, and land tenure policies. This policy proposal will focus on the role of land tenure policy in creating and mitigating these problems. We will show that food insecurity, poverty, landlessness, and expropriations are the result of land tenure policies and governance that undermine tenure security, contribute to weak land administration institutions, and limit market efficiency. i This document is a condensed form of "Land Reform in Ethiopia: Recommendations for Reform" produced by these same authors. Please contact SMNE to review the long-form version of this document. who are, in turn, granted usufruct rights by the community. By legitimizing traditional tenure arrangements, this model is designed to utilize the legitimacy of customary practices and institutions as a path to good governance while maintaining land tenure security for individuals. Case Studies from sub-Saharan Africa Recent land tenure reforms in sub-Saharan Africa have focused on formalizing customary land tenure to improve land tenure security. They have largely taken two forms: conversion to individual or associative freehold title (Kenya, Uganda, Ghana), or certification of individual or associative usufruct rights on state-owned land (Mozambique). Each of these case studies resulted in partial (Kenya, Ghana, Mozambique) or complete (Uganda) failure. In each instance, low percentages of total plots were registered, with a high of 60 percent in Ghana (the African average is 80 percent). 6 In Uganda, complete failure led to a wholesale return to customary tenure practices. In Kenya, Mozambique, and Ghana, partial failure led to the development of parallel formal and informal tenure systems under which wealthy and wellconnected individuals exploited to take land from unregistered landholders. For these reasons, quantitative studies have shown little impact on land tenure security, investment, or productivity and large increases in inequality as a result of these land policy reforms. There are three main reasons for these failures: Cost. Precise measurement for cadastral maps pushed total nominal costs for plot surveys above 200 USD in Uganda. 7 Corruption added to nominal costs, and long, complicated registration processes increased transaction and opportunity costs. Poor farmers who could not afford to register their land instead chose to remain in traditional tenure arrangements, while the wealthy took advantage of reforms to register land and thereby legally 'claim' it. This formation of parallel formal and informal tenure systems allowed the wealthy to dispossess traditional landholders, causing landlessness, exploitation and conflict. Institutional Capacity. In each example of reform, administrative institutions lacked capacity to inform the public about land reforms and process land registrations. None of the case studies featured widespread knowledge of reform among rural landholders. Adjudication and registration was complicated and time intensive. As a result, the educated and politically well connected were able to leverage information asymmetries to grab land from traditional landholders. Governance. Corruption and politicization in reform implementation processes were found to be a substantial problem in all case studies. Examples of abuse included: allocation of land to political favorites, the double-registry of land, and the widespread use of bribery to settle resulting land disputes. In Kenya, for example, democracy deficiencies undermined associative ownership structures as community elders abused their authority, allocating land to family members and selling land as if it were their own. Thus, corrupt, politicized governance structures contributed to land tenure insecurity. The main lesson to be drawn from the case studies examined here is that the form of land tenure system is secondary to issues of cost, institutional capacity, and governance in determining success. region contains many different systems of land management, largely based on tribal arrangements. Pastoral groups in Ethiopia's lowlands operate under community-based tenure arrangements. Local Experience of the State. The Ethiopian state administers policy through a hierarchical system of ethnic federalism with power ostensibly concentrated in regional bureaucracies, from the regional level down through the local woreda (district) and kebele (neighborhood) governments. Woreda and kebele officials are typically loyal to the EPRDF/TPLF ruling party, and decentralization (or more correctly de-concentration) has granted them significant power over daily life. These officials are the main administrators of federal and regional laws and gatekeepers of budgetary aid flows. Local officials are viewed as inconsistent and corrupt, and therefore lack legitimacy and accountability to the people they supposedly serve. Broadly speaking, peasant-tostate relations are characterized by vertical power structures that peasants allow to generally go unquestioned. Peasants are typically unaware of their legal rights and therefore are unable to defend themselves against abuse. Even when they are aware of such rights most choose to defer to authority out of fear of reprisal or punishment. These roles and relationships are particularly salient in the case of land administration. The Political System. In Ethiopia, EPRDF functionaries dominate all levels of government, effectively blurring the lines between government and the ruling party. In short, all federal policies, including land policies, are drawn up and implemented largely to reflect the position of the party. This fact complicates reform in that any proposal for change must criticize current policy, and in doing so, criticizes the policy position of the EPRDF. This relationship makes land tenure reform an extremely sensitive political issue in Ethiopia. Recent Land Reform in Ethiopia Recent land tenure reforms in Ethiopia can be characterized by the success of regional certification programs in Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, and the SNNPR. However this success is tempered by failure of administrative institutions to create an environment conducive to development and effective governance and the specter of redistribution and dispossession enshrined in land laws. Land Law Ethiopia's land tenure laws are largely the combination of the Federal Land Proclamation of 2005 and the regional proclamations. The 2005 Proclamation was rushed to passage after the contested 2005 elections and had the effect of increasing federal control over land tenure. Land tenure reforms since 1997 have largely preserved the Derg system of expropriation and redistribution as a means to deal with rural development issues. The focus of the system is to A) encourage equity in land distribution and prevent the emergence of exploitative land relationships and B) promote rural development through limited market reforms and providing land to the landless. Ownership. Ethiopia's land laws view land as the "common property of the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia" 8 with the right to ownership "exclusively vested in the state and in the

Land acquisition, compensation, and expropriation practices in the Sabata Town, Ethiopia

European journal of sustainable development research, 2023

This study investigated the factors affecting the consent of households dispossessed by industrialization to change job in Sabata Town in Central Ethiopia. Questionnaires to 205 dispossessed households, 10 focus group discussion and 19 key informants were analyzed for the study. The data collected were described using qualitative analysis and descriptive statistics. It was found that land acquisition and expropriation for industrial development is on the rise in Sabata Town. The study findings revealed that the expropriated households' has negatively affected by the displacement action through reducing job opportunity, curtailed their subsistence farming, and contributed to upsurge in poverty. Lack of decision power, demolition of property by court decision, and dearth of clean environment were also negatively associated with the expropriated households' to change job. The consent of the expropriated households to change job emanated from the arbitrary nature of property valuation for land acquisition for industrial development that did not offer sustainable income generation. Thus, there should be initiation of property valuation institution and creation of safe environment for the society.