A prominent scholar has called on Ethiopia’s government to formulate an appropriate policy for rural development in favour of peasants to ensure agricultural productivity and raise prosperity–to ensuring that food will be available and affordable to all.
Dessalegn Rahmeto, a senior research fellow at the Forum for Social Studies in Addis Ababa and Ethiopia’s leading scholar on land tenure and development said the policy has to be produced and developed in consultation with various stakeholders, principally the peasants with the objective of transforming their agricultural production. “An important factor that used to affect land management in Ethiopia is lack of appropriate land policy. The policy should not only focus on transforming the agricultural production, but it should also put the peasants in the centre of decision-making,” he told attendants of the ‘Addis Wog’ forum on 23 March at Sheraton Addis.
Dessalegn, who is the author of the seminal book, “The peasant and the State, studies in agrarian change in Ethiopia 1950s-2000s”, applauded the progress that has been made in infrastructural expansion in rural areas, with regards to road links, bridge construction, dams in the past ten years but he said there are still a number of challenges to overcome to ensure food security and agriculture productivity. The government’s grand strategy of state-led development has exacerbated the vulnerabilities of small producers in the rural areas whose lands are increasingly being threatened by expropriation, he argued. “The Ethiopia agriculture still remains hostage to fluctuation in rainfall and the farming system is, in many ways, not much better off today than they were hundred or two hundred years ago.”
The specialist said that even the few progress registered in transforming the agricultural sector has been as a result of the efforts on the parts of the peasants, not so much because of assistance from the government. He said the contradictions and problems in Ethiopia’s land policies have resulted in exacerbating the food security challenge, many living in rural areas experiencing hunger, even though they are producing food. The number of people who seek emergency food assistance has been growing and is set to continue to grow, he noted. And also, Dessalegn said, the number of people who benefit from the Safety Net system put in place to support in chronically food insecure rural areas has grown from five million in 2005 to 10 million currently.
Land registration system
The government’s move for land reform and land registration system in the past, amidst the principle of land ownership by the
However, the truth is there is a land shortage in Ethiopia and especially the youth are affected by it.
The scholar said the size of land holding has been declining and increasing number of people are facing severe challenges of landlessness, despite the widely held belief that the country has plenty of unused lands that could be used for agricultural and mining activities to investors. Dessalegn said even during the Emperor’s time, it was said that the country had enough land to feed the Middle East and North Africa, a recurrent narrative until today. “However, the truth is there is a land shortage in Ethiopia and especially the youth are affected by it. So much so that, it is becoming a potential source of family conflict,” he underlined.
State interventions to rapidly remedy an unequal distribution of land, value, agrarian reforms, and major investments in water developments remain more relevant than ever for millions of rural Ethiopians facing climate, food, and livelihood insecurity, according to Desalegn.
Small-scale agriculture versus large scale investment program
The promotion of rural growth, in particular through the development of small-scale agriculture, appropriate land use, and transfer of technology is the way out, he said deeming the project of leasing huge tracts of land to foreign and domestic investors vast commercial farms is counterproductive and ineffective. “It is easy to purchase farming inputs from abroad but the key thing should be to encourage local production. In this regard, the agricultural universities in the country such as Haramaya University have to play their roles to assist resource-poor peasants in their own attempt to acquire technology and knowledge about the world.” The peasants have also to be assisted with ways such as the collateral-free crop loans. He said Asian countries such as Malaysia and Thailand have managed to increase farm productivity through sustainable agriculture than big corporations.
Born in Adama in 1940, Dessalegn Rahmato was for many years a Senior Research Fellow at the Addis Ababa University and left in 1997 to establish, along with some like-minded colleagues, Forum for Social Studies – an independent policy research institution for which he was the first Executive Director. He has published numerous books, monographs, and papers.
Main image: Panelists at ‘Addis Weg’ forum, Tamrat G. Giorgis, Seid Nuru, Eyesuswork Zafu, Dessalegn Rahmeto & Berhane Demissie. https://twitter.com/PMEthiopia
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The call for the government to formulate a broad policy for planned rural growth is timely and urgent. But I really doubt that there would be response. Despite wide criticism in the past, the Ethiopian government continued leasing large tracts of land, mostly in the lowlands of the south and west. The so-called agrarian reform in Omo valley, Benishangul, Gambella meant ‘villagisation’, in which entire population have been relocated to make way for large-scale farm, owned and operated by foreigners. The current administration did not in any way indicated it would give up on this projects that would help it to earn quick money.
Historically,this should be the current Government’s number one priority. We have seen how indigenous people were deracinated in Harar, Bale, Wollega, Jimma and Illbaboor during the Derg. Under Weyane, Addis and Wolkiate tegene was swallowed and the salt mine of the Denakali Desert that belonged wholly and solely to the Afaars people since time immemorial. It is incumbent upon the PM to be sensitive to the heart and voiceless of these minorities where a predatory investor covets their land like what is now happening in Congo/Zaire or the newly independent South Sudan.