Land-grabbing and the right to adequate food in Ethiopia (original) (raw)
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Land Grabbing And Its Impact On Food Security In Sub-Saharan Africa
SocioEconomic Challenges
Over the last decade, the synergy between the financial and food crises has led to the emergence of new processes in the functioning of national economies – the seizure of agricultural land. On the one hand, the governments of most African countries, for the sake of their food security, import food and buy agricultural land overseas to organize their own agricultural production. On the other hand, the main purpose of multinational companies investing in land purchases is to generate more profit. This situation led to the rapid and complete privatization of agricultural land on the African continent between 2008 and 2010, while the locals were living outside poverty. The peasants’ right of access to land is no longer guaranteed, they have remained unprotected in their own territories. At present, exponential population growth and its needs are taking place, access to land and water is a crucial element of government. The purpose of the article is to analyze the probable conflicts in ...
Land Tenure in Ethiopia: Continuity and Change, Shifting Rulers, and the Quest For State Control
2008
The CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi) is an initiative of the 15 centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The initiative promotes comparative research on the role of property rights and collective action institutions in shaping the efficiency, sustainability, and equity of natural resource systems. CAPRi's Secretariat is hosted within the Environment and Production Technology Division (EPDT) of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). CAPRi receives support from the Governments of Norway and Italy, and the World Bank. CAPRi Working Papers contain preliminary material and research results. They are circulated prior to a full peer review to stimulate discussion and critical comment. It is expected that most working papers will eventually be published in some other form and that their content may also be revised.
History, 2023
Following the disintegration of state farms in the early 1990s, the Angar-Didessa Valley became the center of the contest for arable land. This article tries to examine the dispute over arable land in the valley from 1991-2010. The study employed a historical research method in which evidence on access to land, land use, farmers' relations, investment, etc. have been employed. The study argues that ill land acquisition, land use, and ill land governance have contributed to conflict among local society, subsistence, and large-scale farmers, which seriously affected the environment, social security as well as development in the region. It reveals that instead of being a productive source of food as well as cash crops, the valley turned into a conflict area in which the local societies, commercial and subsistence farmers were the major actors as well as victims. Because the conflict was ethnically framed, it affected productivity, production relations, the environment as well as development endeavors in western Ethiopia. In particular, while the conflict denied the right of the local society to access the valley resources, it created insecurity for small and large-scale farmers to cultivate which in turn negatively affected the economy and social relations.
Nexus Between Land Grabbing and Development: Perspective of Environmental Injustice in Ethiopia
American Journal of Environmental Protection, 2019
This paper explores the overall relationship between land grabbing and development from the perspective of environmental injustice in Ethiopia. The study principally relied on analysis and reflection of secondary sources. Hitherto, much scholarly discourse has tried to seek remedy for the challenges of land grabbing from political aspects. However, this article attempted to open up a new vista of environmental stewardship from the view point of ethical philosophy. Therefore, we try to explore how land grabbing, as one instance of environmental injustice, has negatively affected the development of societies in Ethiopia. The problem of land grabbing is reality in many parts of Ethiopia like Gambella, Oromia and Benishangul-Gumuz regions. For instance, the Elfora Agro-Industries owner has also evicted poor societies from their land without proper compensation. The integration of Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, with the surrounding area is one form of land grabbing which impose negative impacts on the genuine development of local communities in Ethiopia. As a result, we suggest that inspiring marginalized communities to participate in environmental decision making is very important issue. For instance, Indian Conglomerate Karuturi Company had acquired so many hectares of land by displacing local communities without paying proper compensation for the local societies in the above mentioned regions of Ethiopia.
Land Grabbing, Sustainable Development and Human Rights
Transnational Environmental Law, 2015
Increasing investment in agricultural land by global corporations and investors from wealthy developed nations in poorer, less developed countries has significant human rights and environmental impacts. Proponents of such land deals argue that they provide opportunities for improvements in agricultural practices and generate employment, which will benefit economic growth in host countries. However, there is growing evidence that the phenomenon known as ‘land grabbing’ displaces poor and vulnerable populations and damages the environment, which in turn exacerbates poverty and food insecurity. This article explores the impact of land grabbing in Ethiopia and examines the human rights and sustainable development frameworks within which land grabbing takes place. The article argues that a human rights approach is fundamental to reconcile the sustainable development imperatives of economic development and environmental protection in the context of land grabbing. It advocates an integrate...
Respublica Litereria, 2019
As the building blocks of adaptive strategies, certain combinations of political rules & institutions must be extant or emergent if a developmental transition is to occur in local communities. Based on this key questions and hypothesis, the following have been identified as the major stresses of livelihood and adaptive strategies to marginal environments: land tenure, land disputes, structural and technological transformation. The Gu'raghe of Dega Gogot communities in Ethiopia, which possess many of the following characteristics, have been chosen to participate in the study. The Dega Gogot communities have particular adaptive processes and strategies, which lead to sustainable livelihoods, multiple vulnerability (ecological, socio-political, economic, etc. Development efforts in Ethiopia over recent decades have been frustrated by the complicated and multifaceted nature of processes of change necessary to augur holism in development. These are identified as state control and statutory rights vs. community control and customary rights, diversity of uses and number of natural resources, modern knowledge systems versus endogenous knowledge systems and formal institutions versus endogenous institutions. Hence, the research questions augur on what are the forms of traditional land use systems, the land proclamation and it impact on communities and how the debate can be shaped to enhance livelihoods. The research aims to describe traditional land use, explain the land proclamation, its impact on communities and draw recommendations to shape the land tenure debate to enhance livelihoods. The use right that the land reform law establishes was lacking in providing security of tenure with its attendant negative consequences on investment decisions and sustainable resource management. Another threat to security of tenure was the collectivisation drive during the Dergue regime. The directive on collectivisation enabled co-operatives to incorporate adjoining holdings into their farms whenever they desired to do so. After almost 45 years of public ownership of land and the complexities that arose with trying to change the law even minutely, shaping the discourse, changing the behaviour, knowledge and outputs of publics is important. Development policies and interventions are typically aimed at changing the behaviour, knowledge and outputs of publics and individuals. Underlying design, implementation modalities and processes of transformative mediation is a theory of change (explicit or implicit) with a set of assumptions (social, behavioural, and institutional) indicating why a particular involvement will work and produce the intended outcomes and impact. Often, these conventions are partly hidden requiring reconstruction and articulation, which can use one or more evidence, such as the logical framework for mapping causal assumptions linked to objectives. Key words: land tenure, public ownership, collectivisation, privatisation, carrying capacity, Enset
Land Grabbing and Smallholders in Ethiopia
Journal of Poverty, Investment and Development, 2020
Land grabbing is global issue affecting smallholder farmer's livelihood. With the objective of evaluating the impact of large scale agricultural Investments on the livelihoods of rural communities, this paper uses literatures on land grabbing supplemented by data from FAOstat and tries to identify the root causes of land grabbing and driving forces behind the agricultural investment in the country. It tries to assess the problems created due to introduction of large scale agricultural investment by foreign companies and its consequences on local communities. The remedial measures that should be used by the government to tackle the problems created due to high demand for agricultural land acquisitions were discussed for alternative policy option.
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.