Land tenure and natural resources management: a case study in central Ethiopia
2001
Workneh Negatu (Addis Ababa, Univ., Addis Abeba (Ethiopia))
Most of Ethiopia's agricultural land has been exposed to a continuous degradation and fragmentation over many years. The main causes of land degradation include population and livestock pressure, poor agricultural practices and inappropriate land use patterns. The objective of this paper is to assess land tenure and uses, and land management practices on the basis of a case study in the central highlands of Ethiopia, employing both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. The case study indicates that farmers who are better endowed with labor, oxen and cash lease in land, while the less endowed ones lease out some of their farm fields. The findings also indicate that lesses do have almost full control on what to grow and which inputs to use. Inputs that may not provide benefits within a year are not often applied by lesses (e.g. manure and soil conservation practices). Lack of resources such as cash to purchase land angmenting external inputs (fertilizer, seeds, etc.) labor and oxen aggravate the viability problem of small farms. Legal certification of the holding right, size, boundary and legalizing leasing right (renting and share-cropping) and providing regulations and procedures as to land leasing are envisaged to have important rate in elimmating tenure insecurity feeling and conditions, and in expediting an efficient leasehold system.
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