BY ABEBE WOLDEGIORGIS
When it is combined with labor and capital, land becomes a source for wealth creation. In the modern era of Ethiopia various land systems were introduced but their role in advancing the economy is negligible. Currently 80 percent of the population earns its living directly or indirectly from agriculture.
As the land is owned by the government and farmers have only the right to use, the land officially lost its transaction value. The policy barred the flow of capital, skills and knowledge to the sector; as the result, farmers still plow their plot with archive technology similar to that of the time of the Axum Empire and live in a precarious situation.
Recently the Forum for Social Studies organized a public discussion on the land holding system. On the occasion, the renowned land researcher Desalegn Rahmato presented a research paper. As to him, if the owner of the land that is to say the government knows its responsibility with regard to agricultural activities would play a crucial role in ensuring food security and attaining economic growth.
However, he said that in Ethiopia the land holding system is very controversial and faces various challenges due to the absence of sense of ownership on the side of farmers because they have only use rights and this in turn inhibits them from looking forward and investing for their future.
As to Desalegn, though some measures have been taken to improve laws with regard to land usage, due to lack of sufficient enforcement, they have been still impractical which resulted in their own drawback.
The former member of the parliament Girma Seifu on his part said that the constitution entitled the government to own land which critically removes a sense of ownership of land. And government officials are busy on their day today governmental duty in making and enforcing laws, planning economic policies and defending the nation’s territorial integrity from foreign invaders. Therefore, they have no spare time to maintain the farmers’ small plots which are located in the rural part far from the capital.
Hence to make land ownership clearly defined, intellectuals and other stakeholders should discuss the matter intensively. Unless the situation is seriously considered, amateur politicians will continue to mockery on these critical economic assets. For example, in the past, the previous ruling party cadres wrongly promised the youth whose age is above 18 would be provided land. Naturally, it is only the population increase from time to time but the land size is not increasing therefore, as to Girma, from where they bring land while 30 percent of the rural population is landless.
As compared to other Sub-Saharan African countries, Ethiopia is the least urbanized country and this indicates how land is over burdened by the rural population. According to the demographic estimation, by fair economic development and change of way of living in 2050, 70 percent of the world population will be resided in urban centers. But in the Ethiopian context reaching that goal seems impossible because urbanization takes place here at a snail pace and it should be understood that the existed land policy trapped farmers not to achieve geographical or social movement by changing their way of living. Because according to the law if a farmer stayed out of farming for two years his land would be confiscated.
In such circumstances bringing structural change is a nightmare. Therefore, forwarding other options with regard to land usage is essential.
As to Desalegn, the land proclamation promulgated in 1967 E.C. and sustained by TPLF, clearly stipulated that land belongs to the government. The proclamation also stated that citizens have in perpetuated rights and no one evicts them but due to the absence of legal enforcement citizens are denied their rights.
For the last 27 years, the government pursued Agricultural Led Industrial Development. But it did not deal with the problem of landlessness of farmers in the rural part of the country. When the land policy is examined, it should touch other policies including the youth and women policies.
Agriculture which heavily depends on land is still the mainstay of the economy hence though enduring, bringing structural change through shifting the rural labor from farming into the non-farming should be taken as a way out. Because land and natural resources have been degraded and dwindled due to climate change and global warming.
Allocating marginalized lands particularly in the lowland parts to the investors helps to create job opportunity to the unemployed youths, but as to experts, the recent evidence showed that it is not a successful venture.
Particularly in the regions such as Gambella and Beneshangul Gumuz, it was planned to create jobs for the youth through expanding mechanized farms but it was ill-performed. According to the World Bank study, it was only possible to create jobs for one person in each 20 hectares of land which is very insignificant and uneconomical.
The provision of land to the extensive farms was carried out through evicting farmers from their holdings. The intention of the plan was to garner currency from foreign investors and to stimulate the economy but it did not meet the intended goal.
Demis Chanialew (PhD) is an agronomist who says agricultural transformation depends on the land size and structural change and to realize that, changing the land policy to bring and consolidate sense of ownership to farmers is essential. In Ethiopia, the annual population growth is 3 percent and 80 percent of the more than 110 million people is residing in the rural part earning its living from small scale farming. Farmers in the rural part, when their children became drop out of school, have no other means to support their living unless they provide a portion of their land to them. This again further make land fragmented and vulnerable to degradation due to extreme weather conditions Therefore, formulating a new land policy is indisputably helpful to boost productivity.
The Ethiopian Herald 4 April 2021
