The effects of land tenure, fragmentation, farm size, and soil conservation on farm productivity in Oromia Region

Oromia Region is located in the central part of Ethiopia with an estimated area of more than 353,000 square km and a population of more than 25 million. It contributes more than 44% of the crop area and about 48% of the volume of production to the country's total. The objective of this study is to investigate how land holding-land tenure ie. land 'owned' or land in owner-like possession and land 'rented-in', land fragmentation, farm size and farm conservation - are related to agricultural productivity and food availability in Oromia Region. To increase total holding size, more than 29% of the farmers in the rural areas of the region rented-in land, which accounted for more than 12% of the land cultivated. This land transaction was in the form of land rentals, share cropping and borrowing. The differences in yields of maize, sorghum, teff and wheat cereal crops between 'rented-in' and 'owned' land obtained from a hectare of crop field were analysed. At the regional level differences in yields of sorghum and wheat were detected between the two tenure systems in the region, while no differences in yields of maize and teff were observed. The relationships were not consistent at the zonal level. The analysis also revealed at the regional level that land fragmentation has a positive relationship with the yields of all the above four crops, which showed yield increases as the number of parcels of land increases. The relationships were not consistent at the zonal level. At the regional level there was a positive relationship between farm size and value of output per hectare of cereals, pulses an oil seeds. The relationships were not consistent at the zonal level. At the regional level farms where soil conservation measures were applied had a higher value of output per hectare (43 Birr) than farms where conservation measures were not applied. At the zonal level the same positive result is observed with the exception of Jimma, West Hararghe, Bale and Borena zones. Sex, age and education of the head of household, land tenure, farm size, and fragmentation were identified as influencing adoption of farm conservation measures.