36 GLOBAL GROWING CASEBOOK

ATSBAHA GEBRE-SELASSIE, TESSEMA BEKELE

A Review of Ethiopian
Agriculture: Roles, Policy and
Small-scale Farming Systems

BACKGROUND

Agriculture is the backbone of the Ethiopian economy. This particular sector

determines the growth of all other sectors and consequently, the whole national
economy. On average, crop production makes up 60 percent of the sector’s
outputs, whereas livestock accounts for 27 percent, and other areas contribute
13 percent of the total agricultural value added. The sector is dominated by
small-scale farmers who practice rain-fed mixed farming by employing tradition-
al technology, adopting a low input and low output production system. The land
tilled by the Ethiopian small-scale farmer accounts for 95 percent of the total area
under agricultural use and these farmers are responsible for more than 90 per-
cent of the total agricultural output.
Small-scale farmers produce 94 percent of the food crops and 98 percent
of the coffee, the latter being Ethiopia’s leading export good. Private and state
commercial farms produce just 6 percent of food crops and 2 percent of the coffee
grown. These commercial farms use about 5 percent of the total cultivated land.
Coffee, cotton, tea, fruits, and vegetables are the major crops grown by the few
commercialised state farms, although with very minimal return despite huge
investments in them (MEDIC 1999). With these statistics, one can easily infer
to what extent the small-scale farmers (who are all rural dwellers) are the key
element in strengthening the effort towards agricultural growth and consequent-
ly to the overall economic growth.

The country has varied agro-climatic zones. The Government extension pro-
gramme lists these as: areas of adequate rainfall; areas of moisture stress; and
pastoral areas. Farmers traditionally classify them as dega (cool), woina dega
 COUNTRY ANALYSES: ETHIOPIA AND D. R. CONGO 37

(temperate) and qolla (low land; warm climate). This diversity makes it a favoura-
ble region for growing a variety of crops (Desalegn Rahmato 2008).
The country is endowed with one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the
world. It has earned the name “the Water Tower of Eastern Africa” for having
more than ten rivers, each of which has irrigation potential. It also has the
largest livestock population in Africa (est. 114 million), i.e. 2.5 per capita (MEDIC
1999). As regards to the agricultural suitability of the country’s territory, some
estimates indicate that more than 65 percent (78.9 million hectares) of the land is
fertile for agricultural purposes (Haile Kibret 1998).

Demographically, the country is the second most populous country in Africa

after Nigeria. In 2007, Ethiopia had a total population of 79.22 million. The total
fertility rate of the country is 5.9 children per woman; 3.3 for urban and 6.4 for
rural women (estimates for the years 1995–2000). 83 percent of the population
lives in rural areas, whereas only 17 percent reside in urban areas. However, a
report by UN-Habitat (Economist 2010) foresees an increase of 62 percent in the
number of urban dwellers by the year 2025 for Addis Ababa. The same source
also states that the age structure of the population is youth dominated, similar to

Ethiopia is known as the Water Tower of Eastern Africa.

38 GLOBAL GROWING CASEBOOK

other developing countries. 43 percent of the total population is under the age of
15. With such a predominantly young population the country has undoubtedly the
potential for fast growth (theoretically known as “population hidden momentum”).
The UN report also indicated that the dependency ratio (the proportion of the
population younger than 15 and older than 64 to the total population) is high;
55.45 percent of the population is the productive segment and the remaining
44.55 percent is the dependent segment. From this data, it is possible to infer that
such a high dependency ratio can easily hamper the country’s efforts to develop.

Being aware of the above mentioned factor endowments – a huge labour force in
the rural areas, relatively abundant agricultural lands, diversified agro-climatic
zones and sufficient water resources – the Government of Ethiopia has devised
the current national development strategy called Agricultural Development
Led-Industrialisation (ADLI). ADLI takes agriculture as the engine of national
economic growth. Through ADLI, the country plans to end up with rapid and
sustainable economic growth and independence from foreign food aid, ensuring
maximum benefit for the local population in the context of a free, open market.
As the Government has taken the small-scale farmer and the local leadership
(lower strata of the administration) as active and fundamental players in the
implementation process, building the capacities of the peasant farmers and the
local leadership are the two most important goals.

This paper tries to asses and to identify the role of the agricultural sector in the
Ethiopian economy at macro- and micro-levels. Eventually, it identifies possible
areas within which the voluntary sector could intervene in supporting the sector
at both national and local levels.
 COUNTRY ANALYSES: ETHIOPIA AND D. R. CONGO 39

THE PLACE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE ETHIOPIAN

ECONOMY: THE MACRO-LEVEL

THE ROLE OF AGRICULTURE

In 1999, The Federal Ministry of Economic Development and Cooperation

(MEDIC), (now called the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development MoFED),
revealed that agriculture contributes greatly in terms of export, employment, and
subsistence to the Ethiopian economy. It contributes 50 percent of GDP, 85 percent
of employment (the rural population of Ethiopia), 90 percent of earnings from
export, and 70 percent of raw material requirements for large and medium
industries that are agro-processing (MEDIC 1999).
Haile Kibret revealed that the agricultural sector, due to its major contribu-
tion to the GDP, highly influences the performances of the other sectors of the
economy (Haile Kibret 1998). It, for example, accounts for more than 80 percent
of employment and 90 percent of exports. Ethiopian export commodities are
agricultural outputs: coffee; hides and skins; and seeds and nuts used for edible
oil production. As these are the main sources of foreign earnings, they also
automatically define the country’s capacity to import other materials used in
manufacturing. Kibret also stresses that macro aggregates, like employment and
inflation rates, are also influenced by the sector (Haile Kibret 1998).

Ethiopia’s 2004 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) report – jointly compiled

by the MoFED and the UN Country Team – confirmed these statistics and stated
that the Ethiopian economy is fundamentally rural and agricultural. Agricultural
employees account for more than 85 percent of total population and the sector
contributes to half of the GDP. Nonetheless, recent sources indicate that there is a
shift in agriculture’s contribution to GDP.
The updated estimates of the 2005/06 Ethiopian fiscal year (year 1998 in
the Ethiopian calender) and the 2006/07 forecast (year 1999) are based on the
1999/2000 base year, which revealed that the GDP contribution (both nominal
and real) of agriculture was taking a lion’s share of the total GDP growth with
53.6 percent in 1995/6. This had started to decline, and reached 43.3 percent in
2002/3. Its contribution then rose again to 27.3 percent by 2005/6. Table 1 shows
the share of agriculture to nominal and real GDP.
The same report indicated that the GDP contribution of the major sectors for
the year 2005/6 were 47 percent, 13 percent and 40 percent for agriculture, indus-
try and services, respectively. The national economy grew at an average rate of
40 GLOBAL GROWING CASEBOOK

10.7 percent for the three successive years of 2003/04 to 2005/06. For this period,
the agricultural sector contributed 60 percent of the growth whereas the industry
and the services sectors contributed 10 percent and 30 percent, respectively
(MoFED 2006). One can therefore easily understand how agriculture has been
playing the key role in speeding up the overall growth of the economy.

In the history of Ethiopia’s export markets, coffee has been the number one
export good, dominating all other export products. It not only supports the entire
economic growth of the nation but it is also the source of income for millions of
coffee growers, thousands of coffee traders, primary cooperatives and unions,
financial institutions and transportation enterprises. Some of the Ethiopian coffee
importers include Germany, Japan, Saudi-Arabia, Belgium, USA, Italy, France, the
Sudan, England and Switzerland.
Oil crops take second place in terms of Ethiopian agricultural exports. Niger
(nueg), sesame seeds, sunflower and ground nuts are also exported to Asia,
Europe, America and Africa. Countries like China, Turkey, Israel, USA, Jordan,
Greece, Switzerland, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Canada and Britain are the main
export partners.

SHARE OF AGRICULTURE SHARE OF AGRICULTURE

YEAR
TO NOMINAL GDP TO REAL GDP

1995/96 56.7 53.6

1996/97 55.4 53.4

1997/98 50.6 49.8

1998/99 47.4 48.6

1999/2000 47.4 47.4

2000/01 45.7 48.8

2001/02 41.9 47.3

2002/03 41.2 43.3

2003/04 43.4 45.4

2004/05 46.9 46.6

2005/06 48.1 47.3

Source: MoFED, Department of National Economic Accounting

TABLE 1: Share of Agriculture to Nominal and Real GDP

 COUNTRY ANALYSES: ETHIOPIA AND D. R. CONGO 41

Cattle from Ethiopia is exported to various countries.

Pulses like white pea beans, chickpeas, peas, mung peas, lentils, and beans
have also been exported to Sudan, UAE, Pakistan, Yemen, India, South Africa,
Germany and Singapore, in addition to other regions.
Horticulture items (vegetables and fruits) like beans (Phaseolus vulgaris),
lemon, tomatoes, potatoes, banana, oranges, onion, mango, avocado, cabbages,
papaya, and garlic are also exported to different countries.
In terms of livestock numbers, the country stands atop the list in Africa
and ranks tenth in the world. However, animal husbandry has not managed to
establish itself as a main contributor to the national economy as once hoped for
due to the use of backward technologies. Ethiopia has been exporting different
livestock like cattle, camels, sheep and goats, together with their meat, to
different countries. The same report also shows that notwithstanding various
constraints, external trade has increased relative to past years. Table 2 depicts the
difference over 23 years (between 1984/5 and 2006/7).

There is, however, a structural shift in the overall macro-economy and,

hence, in the relative position of agriculture. The Hand Book of the Ethiopian
Macro-Economy (Access Capital 2010) describes the projected composition of
the Ethiopian GDP by analysing three broad divisions of the economic sector:
agriculture, industry and services. Table 3 indicates that the services sector,
42 GLOBAL GROWING CASEBOOK

VOLUME VALUE
(IN TONNES) (IN ETB)

1984/85 2006/07 DIFF. % 1984/85 2006/07 DIFF. %

COFFEE 73.8 176.4 239 446.3 m 3.8 bn 851

OIL SEEDS 12.4 235.2 1,887 15.6 m 1.7 bn 10,897

PULSES 20.0 158.7 795 16.9 m 624.2 m 3,695

VEGETABLES & FRUITS 9.9 41.0 415 6.0 m 145.5 m 2,416

Source: MoRAD

TABLE 2: Changes in major export agricultural commodities of Ethiopia

involving real estate, wholesale and retail trade, accommodation, catering,

financial services, education, etc. has taken the lead position in the economy. It
also shows structural shifts in the Ethiopian economy over three consecutive
years and a forecast for the 2011/12 fiscal year in terms of the trends for the three
sectors relative to GDP contribution.
Nonetheless, despite the recent structural shifts, agriculture still plays a key
role for the growth of these other sectors and the growth of the national economy
as a whole.

MAJOR CONSTRAINTS FACED BY THE ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURE

Ethiopian agriculture has been suffering from various external and internal prob-
lems. It has been stagnant due to poor performance as a result of factors such as:
¯ Low resource utilisation (e.g. the proportion of cultivated land compared to the
total amount of land suitable for agriculture and the amount of water available
for irrigation is far below the capacity and thus compels the sector to be rain
fed);
¯ Low-tech farming techniques (e.g. wooden plough by oxen and sickles);
¯ Over-reliance on fertilisers and underutilised techniques for soil and water
conservation;
¯ Inappropriate agrarian policy;
¯ Inappropriate land tenure policy;
¯ Ecological degradation of potential arable lands;
¯ Increases in the unemployment rate due to increases in the population (Haile
Kibret 1998).
 COUNTRY ANALYSES: ETHIOPIA AND D. R. CONGO 43

Yonas Ketsela has summarised the main structural constraints for Ethiopian
agriculture (Yonas Ketsela, 2006). These, among others, include the following:
¯ Archaic mode of production and low uptake of technological innovations,
which in turn yield low levels of productivity;
¯ Degradation of land and other natural resources due to intense cultivation and
overgrazing;
¯ Recurrent drought, civil strife and political unrest;
¯ Effective policies governing such issues as land ownership, land titles, land
fragmentation, credit systems and land and crop insurance mechanisms are
not available or are very limited; and
¯ Neglect and lack of agricultural investment.

These constraints, coupled with the rapid population growth, have significantly
contributed to the problem of food insecurity since the 1960s. For Ketsela, the
total population under the national poverty line facing dramatic food insecurity is
estimated to be 50 to 60 percent (Yonas Ketsela 2006).
Nonetheless, readers should take caution when encountering such a figure as
many recent reports reveal that the current total population under the national
poverty line is estimated at 29 percent and is forecast to decline to 22 percent by
the end of the year 2015. The Ethiopian Government has cited in its agriculture
development policy a lack of appropriate policies and strategies as the ultimate
reason for the sector’s past stagnation. The driving force for the government to
issue the Agricultural Development Led Industrialisation (ADLI) policy therefore
is to alleviate these problems.
The external market is a binding constraint on the positive development of the
country’s macro aggregates due to deterioration of trade (especially coffee) and the
rising level of imports combined with the volume of exportable goods (MoFED 2004).

FISCAL YEAR SECTOR CONTRIBUTION TO GDP (IN PERCENT)

SERVICES INDUSTRY AGRICULTURE

2008/09 45.1 12 42.9

2009/10 46.7 13.2 40.1

2010/11 49.1 13.3 37.6

2011/12 47.0 12.8 40.2

TABLE 3: Structural Shift in the Ethiopian Economy

44 GLOBAL GROWING CASEBOOK

OVERVIEW OF THE ETHIOPIAN

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY

POLICY OBJECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS

Ethiopia’s current overall economic development objective has four elements:

¯ Rapid economic growth;
¯ Maximum benefits to the Ethiopian people from this growth;
¯ The elimination of Ethiopia’s dependence on foreign food aid; and
¯ Ethiopia’s emancipation from its current status in the global economy – from
the position of being mere aid recipient to becoming an active partaker in the
global integration process.

An independent, free market economy and a democratic system of governance are

understood to be the underpinnings of these efforts to realise the four elements
of the aforementioned policy objective. The Government’s strategy is to achieve
these development objectives through an agriculture-centred rural development
programme. The rationale for choosing such a strategy is based on the rural
nature of most livelihoods in Ethiopia and the dominance of agriculture in the
Ethiopian economy.
This strategy acknowledges that the country’s main resources are land and
labour, while there is a critical shortage of capital. This factor takes on further
significance when one factors that 85 percent of the population lives in rural
areas. Therefore, by fostering agricultural development, it will be possible to
create strong rural-urban linkages, increase capital available for re-investment,
and sustain foreign exchange earnings. The assumption is that agriculture will
be able to contribute to the development of other sectors. Thus, it is more realistic
to assume that the role of the agricultural sector has a comparative advantage
as opposed to the other sectors when considering it as the engine for economic
growth in the country. The strategy is also expected to bring about enhanced
benefits for the people. The prime source of growth is output created via the
employment of labour and land resources worked by the people themselves. Thus,
the government’s policy plans to combine pro-agricultural policies with effective
health policies and labourer education and training.
The strategy is also taken as means of eliminating the country’s food aid
dependency, as it is believed to increase the purchasing power of the majority of
the population and to promote an internally interconnected national economy.
This means that it will both promote national economic development (i.e. expand
 COUNTRY ANALYSES: ETHIOPIA AND D. R. CONGO 45

the domestic market) and minimise the country’s vulnerability to external

shocks. The end results include minimised dependency on foreign aid, enhanced
participation in the global economy, and eventual economic independence. The
strategy is also expected to bring about a free market economy, which is regarded
as a governing principle of and a suitable context for achieving the above
mentioned development objectives. The free market economy however would need
to be based on broad economic activity. Thus the strategy is geared to productive-
ly engage the majority of the Ethiopians in the economy. If the majority of those
Ethiopians within the productive age bracket are involved productively in the
economy, this will be one of the first steps on the way to a developed free market
economy (MoFED 2003).

The ADLI strategy is also supposed to be implemented following a number of

strategic focus areas:

¯ Labour-intensive technologies and strategies;

¯ Proper utilisation of agricultural land;
¯ Incorporating existing indigenous farming technologies where suitable;

Land tenure and property rights are major issues for agricultural development in Ethiopia.
46 GLOBAL GROWING CASEBOOK

¯ Taking different agro-climatic zones into account;

¯ Integrating agricultural and rural development programmes;
¯ Building an agricultural marketing system (involving the promotion of agri-
cultural exchange through grading agricultural products, provision of market
information, improving and strengthening the participation of private capital
in agricultural marketing, and promoting the setting up of cooperatives);
¯ Improving rural finance systems;
¯ Encouraging private agricultural investors;
¯ Expanding rural infrastructures (education, health, water supply, etc); and
¯ Expanding agricultural non-development activities.

The policy also stresses that no matter how well policy and strategies are de-
signed, they cannot bring about the desired effects unless they are implemented
effectively through efficient leadership. As a result, two key forces are considered
as crucially important: the local leaders and the peasant farmers. Thus building
the capacities of the local leaders as well as ensuring the popular participation of
the small holder peasants, are considered core elements of the strategy.

POLICY DEBATES: CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES

As regards to the current agricultural development policy of Ethiopia, two

major issues have been controversial points of debate: the land holding system
and tenure security; and the role of the small-scale farmer in being the main
contributor to the achievement of the developmental objectives expected from the
agricultural sector.

The questions most often raised are:

¯ Can the small-scale farmer, with fragmented and small sized plots farmed
by applying backward technology, be responsible for attaining the intended
developmental goals and reach food self-sufficiency?
¯ Can the current land tenure and ownership system encourage land-holders to
make land-augmenting investments on their land?

LAND TENURE POLICY AND ITS EFFECTS

Ethiopian scholars agree that land tenure and related issues feature prominently
in the political as well as economic history of the country. According to Tafesse
 COUNTRY ANALYSES: ETHIOPIA AND D. R. CONGO 47

Olika, land rights have been and remain a central problem in the development of
the agricultural sector (Tafesse Olika 2006). Hence, the issue of the landholding
system was at the core of Ethiopian politics. Present land tenure systems in
Ethiopia are to be seen within the context of three different past systems: the
feudal system, the military government, and the current federal democratic state.
In the Imperial regime, land holding systems were divided in three: the rist
which meant access to land based on one’s lineage, the gult was land allocated
to the Orthodox Church, and the crown (state) lands. According to Tafesse
Olika, during the imperial regime two contradictory landholding systems were
observed: the tendencies towards both privatisation and nationalisation of land.
Not only the land but also the peasants (tillers) theoretically belonged to the state
or the emperor. Peasants were not allowed to leave to their descendants the land
they used to till.
The same source also indicated that the Derg-socialist regime, after assuming
power by military force in 1974, promulgated the 1975 “Land to the Tiller”
Proclamation, which aimed to: weaken the feudal landlords who were in favour
of the imperial regime; respond to the students’ protest which had “Land to the
Tiller” as a slogan; and to cool down peasant upheavals against the land holding
systems of the imperial regime. The peasantry was given the right of use but
without any transfer rights. Land was not to be sold, mortgaged, or leased.

The current land policy is one element of the 1995 Federal Democratic Republic
of Ethiopian (FDRE) constitution. Art. 40 vests the right to ownership of rural
and urban land exclusively in the state and collectively in the peoples of Ethiopia.
Only use and not ownership rights are guaranteed. As land is the common
property of the “Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia”, it cannot be sold,
exchanged and mortgaged. On the one hand, it gives the Government the right to
expropriate the land for public purposes and to give to private investors the right
of use on the basis of payment arrangements. On the other hand, the provisions
grant the peasants the right to:
¯ Obtain land without permanence;
¯ The protection against eviction from their possessions;
¯ Enjoy full rights to improvements one brings about on the land by labour and/
or capital: including the right to alienate, to bequeath, to remove ones proper-
ty when one’s usage rights expire, to transfer his/her title or claim compensa-
tion for it (Dasalegn Rahmato 2008).
48 GLOBAL GROWING CASEBOOK

Although the aforementioned policy is said to be better than the previous policies
in defending the rights of small–scale farmers as development partners (as
opposed to the previous ones where the peasants were considered mere subjects
of the ruling parties), it is highly criticised for not giving adequate ownership
rights to farmers (Tafesse Olika 2006).

Desalegn Rahmato (2006) has summarised the fundamental criticisms of the

current Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front’s (EPRDF) land policy
(as currently stated by many other writers) as follows:

¯ The policy promotes insecurity of tenure because it allows, among other

things, periodic redistribution (or at least the threat of such redistribution);
¯ It is inefficient because it limits land transactions and has inhibited the
emergence of a dynamic land market;
¯ It promotes fragmentation of land and growing pressure on land resources
because it discourages rural people from leaving their farms for other
employment opportunities;

Small scale farmers are the key actors in Ethiopia’s current development strategies.
 COUNTRY ANALYSES: ETHIOPIA AND D. R. CONGO 49

¯ It inhibits dynamic differentiation within the peasantry as well as the

emergence of an enterprising class; and
¯ It gives the state immense power over the farming population because land is
state property.

In the light of these points, the current land policy has been criticised by most
members of academia and the opposing political parties.
Some proponents asserted that unless the current land tenure system is
changed or at least modified, the hitherto structural constraints that have been
retarding the sector’s growth cannot be removed. Tafesse Olika, one of the
advocates of private land ownership, critiques the effectiveness of the current
land tenure arrangement system based on three principles. The first is security of
tenure, which involves the right to use land without fear of any form of eviction for
political or any other petty reasons. Thus, tenure security would mean the absence
of uncertainty that prevents the farmers from investing in the land to enhance
productivity. The second critique regarding clarity of title, which means farmers’
rights and obligations to the land are not clear. Doubts include: do farmers have the
right to improve their holdings? To what extent can one farmer exclude others from
using his/her plot? To what extent can the system guarantee permanent bounda-
ries of plots of land? The author Tafesse Olika also details a third critique which
has to do with farmers’ freedom to use land as a guarantee (or financial collateral)
to secure credit from banks, which might help finance investments on land for
better productivity and agricultural development (Tafesse Olika 2006). For Tafesse
Olika, the current land tenure arrangements in Ethiopia are not good policy and
fall into the aforementioned traps. He therefore calls for reform.
Workneh Nigatu argues (Workneh Nigatu 2006) that tenure security and the
size of farm lands are two most important determinants of farmers’ application
of improved technology. Their rate of advanced methods utilisation is in turn the
determining factor in farm productivity and output. He stresses that farmers’
decisions in favour of using advanced technologies, land management practices,
and farm enterprise patterns that improve productivity depends on “land tenure
systems which may affect future returns from current investments in land im-
provement”. Nigatu also argues that with insecure land tenure and land transac-
tion, farm households may have less incentive to invest in improved technologies
and land management techniques because it takes longer to reap the benefit from
suitable land management practices. However, farm households may also increase
investment on their land if the investment has a chance to secure tenure for them.
Nonetheless, in Nigatu’s opinion, within the Ethiopian context it is land tenure
50 GLOBAL GROWING CASEBOOK

security that precedes farmers investing in the augmentation of their land and
not vice versa. Thus he calls for measures to improve the tenure security in order
to spur gains in investment and productivity.

In addition to land tenure security, a farm’s size determines what kinds of im-
proved technologies can be applied. The application of suitable land management
techniques such as crop rotation, agro-forestry, inter-cropping, and soil erosion
control is generally negatively influenced by the fragmentation of farm land.
A decrease in farm size correlates with a reduction in the application of these
techniques, which need relatively larger farm sizes. Because small-scale farmers
face the challenge of higher overhead costs per unit of land area; and as they have
low incomes and operate in a risk-prone and precarious environment, they tend to
avoid risk. Consequently, farmers with smaller plots of land are the ones that in
most cases are vulnerable to food and income insecurity. Nigatu stresses that the
smaller the size of the farm plots, the less frequently the farmers apply improved
technologies (Workneh Nigatu 2006).
The author substantiates his arguments by taking a case study of four
districts of the South Wollo Zone Administration, which is located in the northern
highlands of Ethiopia. Based on his study, Nigatu asserts that because the farm
plots owned by peasant farmers are very small, the farming households could not
apply improved technologies. The incidence in the use of improved crop seeds,
chemical fertilisers, pesticides, and irrigation water were found to be minimal.
420 farmers were asked whether or not they use fertiliser. In the 2000/01
cropping year, only 16.67 percent asserted that they applied fertiliser, whereas in
the following cropping year only 5.68 percent applied it. In the case of improved
seeds, in 2000/01 they were used by only 0.94 percent of the farmers and in the
years 2001/02 only 6.60 percent used them (Workneh Nigatu 2006).
In short, Nigatu claims that the existing public-ownership land tenure system
in Ethiopia, which derives from official allocation by the local governments and
through transfer or transaction of land usage rights, precludes any opportunities
for land transactions and thus greatly reduces the deployment of new technolo-
gies and holds down farm productivity.

The Government has tried to ensure tenure security for farmers by applying user
rights registration and certification where the duration of registration lasts for
20–30 years. The intent of the registration and certification scheme was to:
¯ Secure rights of tenure to peasant farmers and protect the rights of vulnerable
groups such as women;
 COUNTRY ANALYSES: ETHIOPIA AND D. R. CONGO 51

¯ Reduce land disputes and litigations;

¯ Facilitate land use planning and management of community and state land;
¯ Increase investment by small holders on their plots; and
¯ Provide better opportunities for access to credit services.

However, according to Desalegn Rahmato (2008), the peasants perceived the cer-
tification scheme as a means of the right to compensation in the event of dispos-
session and as a good proof for claim of a given plots of land in the event of land
disputes. This means that eviction, dispossession, and disputes are inevitable.

The Government’s underlying assumptions and justifications for its policy of

public land ownership include the following socio-economic equity issues:

¯ Every rural individual has the right to a plot of land sufficient for his or her
livelihood and should claim the right in his or her kebele or locality (economic
reason). If land is privately owned, it is impossible to fulfil such a right but
rather can create peasant dispossessions through distress sales or evictions.
This might concentrate land in the hands of the few (particularly the urban
upper middle class) with concomitant effects of widespread poverty and
landlessness;
¯ State ownership will help do away with the problems of landlessness
within farming communities, though this assumption is criticised by the
Government’s opponents, as many rural people are landless. The government
has been employing various instruments to tackle the problem of landless-
ness. These include periodic redistribution; expropriation of land from those
who fail to fulfil certain obligations and transfer of said land to landless
individuals; and, more recently, privatisation of the hill sides;
¯ Promoting social equity among the rural dwellers. Land ownership by the
state is also thought of as a means to narrow the gap between the rich and the
rural poor, thereby mitigating the disparity in wealth and property that is the
cause of antagonism and class conflict (Desalegn Rahmato 2008).

THE SMALL-SCALE FARMER: RESPONSIBLE FOR FOOD SECURITY

The most common definition of food security is that of the World Bank: “access by
all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life”. At the World Food
Summit in 1996 the definition was further elaborated to detail the dimensions
52 GLOBAL GROWING CASEBOOK

of availability, access, and stability. Food security was defined as ‘a situation in

which all households have both physical and economic access to adequate food for
all members, and where households are not at a risk of losing such access’. The
factors considered within the notion of food security are sufficiency (adequate
supply of calories and other intakes such as protein and micronutrients); time
(chronic or transitory) and access (ability of households to acquire food). Food
self-sufficiency has a different meaning than food security as the former chiefly
focuses on domestic production whereas the latter incorporates international
specialisation and comparative advantage (Yonas Ketsela 2006).
Addressing the ever persistent lack of food security is one of Ethiopia’s major
domestic policy goals. The effort is focused on making the country self-sufficient
through increased food production and higher farm productivity, with the final
goal being ending the country’s dependence on external food aid. Ethiopia’s
current development strategy, ADLI, takes the small-scale farmer as the key actor
responsible for implementing the rural and agricultural development policies
(Desalegn Rahmato, 2008). According to public officials, all that is required to
make the small-scale farmers more productive is to help them adopt improved
technology and modern land use techniques (Tafesse Olika 2006).
However, this rural-centred agriculture-led development strategy is strongly
criticised. Desalegn Rahmato (2003) asserts that Ethiopian agriculture has virtually
exhausted its potential and is incapable, in its present form, to serve as an engine
for growth and development. His argument is based on the following factors:

¯ Small-scale farmers are taken as the primary actors responsible for cata-
lysing the Government’s intended growth and development. Nonetheless,
they themselves are inflicted with destitution and food insecurity. They are
also burdened with insecure holdings, tiny plots of land, and undemocratic
extension services.
¯ It is impossible to attain food self-sufficiency on the strength of domestic
agriculture. Rahmato stresses that only a few countries were proven to be
successful in feeding their population solely from domestic production.
Most countries rely on international markets. As a result, he advocates other
alternatives like expanding employment opportunities for rural households,
diversifying their sources of income, and expanding rural dwellers’
capabilities.
 COUNTRY ANALYSES: ETHIOPIA AND D. R. CONGO 53

THE MICRO-LEVEL STRUCTURE OF ETHIOPIAN

AGRICULTURE

This section of the paper will highlight the living conditions of farming house-
holds at the grass-roots level. Two consecutive group discussions were held with
farmers. The first group discussion was held with farmers living in the Amhara
National Regional State, North Showa Zone, Tarmaber Woreda, Asfachew Kebele
Administration. The second group discussion was conducted with farmers of
District Nine (one of the peripheral areas of the City Administration of Addis
Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia)

CROP PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT

The management and production of crops in specific localities as well as through-

out Ethiopia demands much labour and time, and in some cases might necessitate
machines and advanced technologies. At minimum the process involves land
preparation, planting, weeding, soil fertility management, storage, and proper
crop use.

MAJOR CROPS AND BENEFITS

Participants in the rural region (in the Amahra National Regional State) placed
the major crops in order of importance. Food crops include teff, which is the staple
source of food in Ethiopia, sorghum, chickpeas, and maize. The principle cash
crops include mung bean (locally called masho, which is recently gaining popu-
larity as the most favoured cash crop in the area) and sesame seeds. Cash crops
are very important for households when they require cash to purchase goods they
couldn’t otherwise make themselves (like industrial products, for example). The
mung bean could fetch as much as ETB 1,500 per 100 kg. Nonetheless, according
to research participants, the food-cash dichotomy is no longer unassailable in that
the food crops may be sold for attaining different objectives. Teff, the traditional
staple food of Ethiopians, is also sold to generate cash in order to, for example,
replace oxen or when a household needs to rent more land.
In rural areas of Addis Ababa, the major crops grown are wheat, teff,
chickpea, mamoncillo (guaya), lentil and abish, which is one of the locally known
spices. Teff and wheat are intended mostly for food consumption but are also
being sold when households are in need of cash. White teff is mostly used for
54 GLOBAL
LGGROWING
ROW
R O W IIN
OW NG CA
CAS
CASE
C
CASEBOOK
AS
A SE BOOK
SE

Group discussion participants

trading purposes whilst red-brown teff mixed with wheat is most often used for
food consumption within the household.
In short, crops are serving as important sources of food and income for the
rural households at both localities of this study.

AGRONOMIC PRACTICES – CHALLENGES AND COPING MECHANISMS

According to findings from a case study by the Sheno Agricultural Research

Centre (2002) – currently called Debre Birhan Agricultural Research Centre at
Kewet Woreda, which is just ten kilometres from an area featured in one of this
 COUNTRY ANALYSES: ETHIOPIA AND D. R. CONGO 55

paper’s case studies – the types of crops grown and the cropping activities are
determined by the onset and distribution of rainfall, the nature of the soil, the
priority given to the specific crop, the fertility of farm plots, and the requirements
of the crops. One crucial element in the process of crop production is land
preparation, as it is decisive in obtaining a good harvest. Establishing a good
crop, increasing yield per hectare, reducing weed pressure, and improving soil
moisture retention all depend on good land preparation (tillage). Farmland is
prepared using the traditional ploughing instruments. Row planting is not easy
for the farmers as it needs more labour than broadcasting; therefore, many apply
the latter alternative. These and other activities, like weeding and soil fertility
management, are highly labour-intensive.

The group discussion participants (who live in the rural area, i.e., Asfachew Kebele
Administration) pointed out that some of the biggest challenges they face in the
process occur during the stages from land preparation to harvesting. The house-
holds have developed coping mechanisms to alleviate shortages of farm labour.
These mechanisms are traditionally called woenfel and debo. The former refers
to the exchange of labour between neighbouring farmers based on an agreement
where they collaboratively work for each other during the challenging stages of
land preparation, weeding, or harvesting. Debo refers to the organisation of labour
force among neighbours, relatives, or kinsmen for the same purpose. As the debo
method traditionally demands that the hosting family prepare a sort of feast (in-
volving drinks and foods that might be costly for poor farmers), many are not able
to use this method. Farmers who lack the adequate supply of labour also engage
in share-cropping where one gives his/her land to others who have a relatively
abundant labour supply. Farmers who are better off then hire day labourers.
The most common mechanism for mitigating those shortages of capital that
hinder farming activity is idir, which is a traditional, informal, economic, as well
as social organisation among neighbours and relatives. It was originally intended
to conduct burial ceremonies in an economic fashion but grew into a means to
regularly save money by members that is used during other times of adversity
(like during a crop failure). Irtiban is another locally organised social arrange-
ment devised to mitigate economic distress; for example, during livestock death
or crop failure, although it is becoming less common these days.

Shortage of land is caused by the distribution of the land among parents and older
children, which leads to fragmentation and diminishing plot sizes. Moreover
– and more dramatically – rapid population growth is still the centrepiece of
56 GLOBAL GROWING CASEBOOK

rural poverty and no good solution has been found thus far. Land rental for a
fixed period of time (duration and size depend on the land laws of the respective
regional state) is one of the solutions meant to mitigate land shortages, but only
for those who have the financial means and can employ the necessary labour
force. Nonetheless, small-sized farming plots, according to the participants of the
focus group, remain a serious cause of rural unemployment.
Lack of farm oxen is another constraint faced by the farmers. This used to
force farmers to engage in distress sales of their food crops simply to buy farm
oxen. These emergency sales often disrupted the farmers’ intended usage and
could lead to shortages. Another possible arrangement, traditionally called
mekenajo, involves the exchange of farm oxen between farmers who collectively
own only one animal.
The farmers apply two types of fertilisers: chemical fertilisers (i.e., urea
and diammonium phosphates (DAP)) and compost from animal dung and crop
residuals. According to the interviewees, both types of fertilisers show similar
results in increasing productivity per hectare. However, the organic fertiliser
creates a benefit lasting three years once applied, which is far better than the
chemical fertiliser’s effectiveness. According to the farmers, the preparation of
compost is a labour intensive task and therefore they arrange debo or wonefel as
deemed necessary and depending on their financial capacity. The chemical fer-
tiliser is expensive and many farmers cannot afford to pay the full price upfront.
Therefore, the District Offices of Agriculture – which are part of the Ministry of
Agriculture – sometimes obtain chemical fertiliser in bulk and sell it to farmers
while requiring repayment in instalments.
Seed supply is another critical issue that farmers have to deal with. As there
are no cooperatives or unions that can supply improved seeds, the farmers
themselves apportion and retain seeds from their produce.

Group participants from the peripheral areas of Addis Ababa mentioned many
constraints including the small and diminishing size of farm lands; inadequate
extension services and follow-ups by the respective office of agriculture; soil
infertility; outdated modes of production; and a lack of correct agricultural infor-
mation. The lack of adequate land is due to the increasing encroachment of public
and private investments, as the Government is legally endowed with the right to
confiscate land for investment purpose. As already mentioned, large family sizes
and rapid population growth are also severe causes of land fragmentation and di-
minishment. Soil infertility is owed to the over-exploitation of cultivated land. For
a farm plot to give good yields, farmers have to apply a high quantity of fertiliser,
 COUNTRY ANALYSES: ETHIOPIA AND D. R. CONGO 57

Agricultural production is constrained by fragmented plots of farm land due to population

growth and growing encroachment of public and private investments.

which is very expensive. Since the land supplies low yields per hectare, many
farmers try to take advantage of living near the mega-city of Addis Ababa. These
farmers look to wage labour to subsidise their families’ livelihoods. According
to these farmers, many face the risk of crop failure as a result of unexpected
rain because of inadequate extension services given by the office of agriculture,
coupled with a general disregard for weather forecasts.
According to the comments of an agricultural development agent, unlike those
who live in rural areas, farmers in Addis Ababa try to mitigate labour shortages
by employing day-labourers based on a negotiated wage. This is primarily during
the times of land preparation, weeding, threshing, and so on. This is possible
because these farmers live near the capital where many young rural-urban
migrants are seeking jobs. Intensely prolonged or short-lived rain, a variety of
pests, and a shortage of land are also some of the constraints faced by the farmers
in the course of crop production.
58 GLOBAL GROWING CASEBOOK

POST-HARVEST MANAGEMENT

Formerly, the farmers used to store their produce in gotera/rique or the equiv-
alent, which translates into barn. However, today, the most common method
is storing produce indoors in industrially produced sacks. According to the
discussion participants, this is due to decreasing productivity and production that
precludes the need to construct a barn. Insects and rodents are threats at this
stage and farmers often purchase pesticides from local merchants.
The amount of output produced is generally minimal for farmers who are
living at the periphery of Addis Ababa, therefore storage is not much of a concern.
Because they are near to one of the many market centres in Addis Ababa, farmers
can sell before signs of damage or pest infestation occur during storage.

MARKETING AND MARKET INFORMATION

The Sheno Agricultural Research Centre (2002) conducted research on the Kewet
Woreda District, in the Amhara National Regional State. Findings indicate that
households usually sell their crop by transporting it to the nearest small town
or station using pack animals, on the backs of people, or by means of public
transport (the latter is a very rare case due to high transportation costs and a
lack of availability). The case study areas have a biannual harvest time (twice a
year), traditionally called meher (following the big rain) and belg (following the
small rain). Most crops are sold immediately after the big harvest time (meher
lasts from December to January). The sale of crops occurs after meher because it
is at this time that farmers are expected to settle payments associated with the
holidays, previously extended credit (related to fertilisers, seeds, etc), taxes, and
other social obligations. Price fluctuations and lack of information are causes for
disadvantage to the producers in the selling-buying process.
Group participants clearly revealed that producers are not fairly benefiting
from the prevailing market arrangements. The farmers transport their goods
from the areas of production to the nearest markets on the backs of pack animals
and/or on the back of other household members, which requires much effort and
prevents the animals and other family members from participating in other pro-
ductive activities. Their customers are households in the nearest towns or local
retail traders. According to the research participants, the prevailing marketing
arrangement is working against them because they have no negotiation power
with the traders.
 COUNTRY ANALYSES: ETHIOPIA AND D. R. CONGO 59

Their lack of leverage is due to three factors:

¯ Farmers are not organised and sell their produce individually whereas traders
are relatively well organised. Thus the traders always reach consensus among
themselves to cut the prices of each crop;
¯ Farmers are often pushed into distress selling in order to purchase industrial
materials for household consumption or to buy livestock such as oxen; and
¯ Farmers are not informed as to the price similar farm commodities fetch else-
where and thus cannot make informed decisions.

Therefore, according to the participants, it is the traders who set the market price
while the producers sell at farm-gate prices and often this does not include the
transportation costs and the like. They also do not engage in bargaining to set the
prices of their produce.
Farms headed by females and lacking adult male relatives in the household
are disadvantaged because of limitations on how far women are permitted to
travel to get to the market. Law recognises the equality between women and
men but traditions will not change overnight. Women still experience enormous
difficulties when trying to benefit from their newfound rights. Rural farming is
laborious and tiresome. Women caring for their children cannot simultaneously
work on a farm. In addition, women lack capital and other agricultural assets.
Even if they own land, most women rent it out in return for very little payment.
Moreover, means of transportation in rural Ethiopia are very limited. Farmers
travel some three to four hours on foot to reach markets. Women cannot leave
their small children unattended for such a long time in order to get to the
markets. Their movement is restricted, thus holding them back from meaningful
commercial participation in the agricultural sector.

The situation of farmers living in the area of Addis Ababa is different from those
living in the Amhara National Regional State. The farmers are well informed (even
though still unorganised) of the currently prevailing market prices and they gen-
erally manage to sell their produce at higher prices. According to the interviewees,
they sell only after a clearly defined and consistent bargaining process with traders
(as well as with household consumers). Nevertheless, they too have constraints own-
ing to the lower yield per hectare ratio of their lands due to prior over-cultivation.
60 GLOBAL GROWING CASEBOOK

LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT, BENEFITS AND THREATS

In the Amhara National Regional State (the rural setting for the case study) the
varieties of livestock raised include cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys, and poultry.
Cattle are sources of draught power, threshing, and milk products. Sheep and
goats are an important source of income during times of economic stress and
cater to more urgent needs of households. Donkeys are kept for transportation and
poultry is raised as food as well as for the purpose of trading. However, shortage
in feedstuff, animal diseases, and price fluctuations are the main challenges to

Women farmers in Ethiopia are

facing exceptional challenges.
 COUNTRY ANALYSES: ETHIOPIA AND D. R. CONGO 61

the livestock farmers. The participants discussed their recent experiences, includ-
ing an instance when the price of an average ox in August 2010 was ETB 6,000
but dropped to ETB 4,000 only two months later. The 33 percent decrease in the
price of an ox was caused by the outbreak of a severe animal disease. The local
veterinary institutions supported the farmers but still many oxen died of diseases
such as anthrax.
While these findings were true in the case of farmers living in the Amhara
National Regional State within the rural lands of the North Showa Zone, partici-
pating farmers from Addis Ababa’s periphery told researchers that only oxen for
farming and donkeys, few in number, are being kept in the area, given the limited
capacities to hold cattle within Ethiopia’s capital city’s limits. Thus, the smaller
numbers of animals reduce the chances of diseases spreading among the animal
stock.

THE LAND POLICY AND ITS EFFECTS AT GRASS-ROOTS LEVEL

As discussed above, land tenure systems are one of the critical factors impacting
growth and development in an agrarian society like Ethiopia’s. The current public
ownership policy of Ethiopia is criticised by many scholars, opposition parties,
and some external development partners. Critics stress that this kind of land
tenure diminishes tenure security among the farmers, reducing the possibility for
farmers to increase their investment capacity and enhance production.

¯ In the urban case, participants revealed that the Government can confis-
cate land for private or public investment following compensation to the
farmers. Compensation is a principle common to all regional states and
administrations.
¯ Farmers can bequeath the right of use to their children. However, as to the
issues of whether or not farmers’ heirs can pay tax on the bequeathed land
plots in their own name (which has potential ownership implications), the
reality was found to be contradictory in some instances. In one local adminis-
tration it was possible while in another it was not possible.
¯ However, according to a staff member from the land administration, paying
taxes on land you inherited in your own name was possible until recently
but is now prohibited due to new instructions from superior institutions, in
response to some temporary problems.
62 GLOBAL GROWING CASEBOOK

¯ There are no land registration and certification services for farmers in the
Addis Ababa area. As a result there are regular land disputes among adjacent
farmers due to the confusion over the demarcation lines between farm plots.

According to the participants in the Amhara State (those who live in rural areas):
¯ There is land registration and certification. It helped to avoid conflict between
farmers and indicated greater gender equality as the photos of both husband
and wife are attached to the certificate;
¯ Farmers believe that farm lands belong to them, at least in terms of the right
of use (although this position calls for further investigation with regards to
the extent to which they would hold security of tenure); and
¯ According to the research participants, the land certification does not specify
the duration of the right of use nor does it spell out the details of the contract
between the state and the farmers. The possible impact of such non-specified
durations on the farmers’ sense of security and on their associated develop-
ment endeavours also calls for investigation.

CONCLUDING REMARKS AND RECOMMENDED

AREAS OF INTERVENTION

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

From our research it can be concluded that Ethiopia is endowed with immense
natural resources: vast amounts of agriculturally suitable land; varied agro-cli-
matic zones favourable for raising wide varieties of flora and fauna; readily
available water resources that can be used for irrigation and power generation;
and a relatively numerous and cheap labour force. However, despite such endow-
ments, the country‘s economy was stagnant due to its major sector, agriculture.
Ill-designed policies, natural calamities and backward peasant farming tech-
niques with a low input-output ratio have hampered this sector.
Irrespective of its size as compared to the developed and developing large
nations, Ethiopia has been cited to be one of the fastest growing economies in the
world. For the first time in the country’s history the Ethiopian economy has begun
to be led by the services sector, which heralds a structural shift that allows for
sparks of hope to develop.
 COUNTRY ANALYSES: ETHIOPIA AND D. R. CONGO 63

As agriculture is still the dominant sector of the economy, the overarching

national development strategy is rural-centred and focused on agriculturally
led industrialisation. This policy has been and is still a point of controversy for
the Government and its allies on the one hand side and academia as along with
other opposing sectors of civil society on the other. The Government claims
that growth is the result of a sound development policy (the ADLI), whereas the
opponents attribute growth to naturally favourable conditions like good harvests
owing to adequate rain. The ADLI strategy considers small-scale farmers and
local government administrations as the two key players in achieving its policy
goals. Therefore, the Government intends to support small-scale farmers through
integrated packages of agricultural extensions to raise the yield per hectare ratio
while training the local leadership and boosting their capacity to aid farmers.
Despite the fact that many areas of the economy have made progress, the
livelihoods of small-scale farmers are still constrained by many impeding factors.
The salient constraints include: small and diminishing farm lands due to large
family sizes and rapid population growth; soil infertility with decreasing yield-
per-hectare ratios; on-field and post-harvest crop pests; unpredictable patterns of
rain; input scarcity and outdated technologies leading to low outputs; shortage of
capital; reduced market access; lack of market information; outbreaks of animal
diseases and shortages of animal feed, and declining price structures. Whether
or not the public ownership land policy has negatively or positively affected the
agricultural sector needs further study. The land certification book has helped
the farmers of the Amhara National Regional State by settling disputes among
adjacent farmers, while those who live in the periphery of Addis Ababa do not
receive such certification, which leads to frequent conflicts between the farmers.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE VOLUNTARY SECTORS

Possible interventions in support of the agriculture sector can be categorised into

the following three measures:
¯ Support the successful implementation of the current national agriculture
development policy with adequate financing, especially through collaboration
with international funding agencies;
¯ Support the sector by building the capacities of the local (district and keel)
offices of agriculture through training to develop extension experts and
leaders and by providing logistics support; and
64 GLOBAL GROWING CASEBOOK

¯ Support small-scale farmers by providing functional, practical, and productive

education and improved agricultural technologies, as well as supplies and
improved access to markets.

These recommendations were given by the farmers themselves, as well as by an

expert from the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture.

AUTHORS:
ATSBAHA GEBRE-SELASSIE is an Ethio-German agronomist with a special
interest in rural development and organisational development in the context
of cooperation for poverty eradication. He has extensive experience in the field
of international development cooperation, especially in Ethiopia and Egypt,
which he acquired, e.g., as Country Representative to Ethiopia and then as
Development Worker in Egypt of the organisation Misereor, and as Chairperson
of Finks – Society for Integrated Development – Hawzie in Ethiopia.
TESSEMA BEKELE is the Executive Director and Founder of the Ethiopian
non-governmental organisation Emmanuel Development Association (EDA),
an Organisational Development (OD) Practitioner and, since 2008, part-time
lecturer in Organisational Management & Leadership at the New Generation
Universality College & Unity University College in Addis Ababa. His specific
interest lies in the leadership development (coaching, mentoring and developing
the young generation to become emerging leaders of Ethiopia), as well as in
economic and livelihood development of the grassroots’ people.

EDITED BY: DOMINIK KALWEIT and WILLIAM GRECH, KOPIN

REVIEWED BY: STEFANO MONCADA, University of Malta
 COUNTRY ANALYSES: ETHIOPIA AND D. R. CONGO 65

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