(May 25, 2012, USAID)--A USAID-backed land-certification scheme has not only transformed property rights for men and women alike, but has also addressed declining agricultural productivity, resource degradation and conflict over boundaries. With certificate in hand, new rights-holders agree: “There is nothing better than land.”
Kimya Ahmed never imagined how a simple piece of paper would change
her life. But that is exactly what happened after she and her husband
received a formal certificate of land use from the government in 2004. After
converting from insecure occupants to secure rights-holders, the Ahmeds
decided to further invest in the small patch of farm. In doing so, they
increased the variety of crops they grew and improved their yields and
income.
Similar stories have been playing out across Ethiopia ever since the government, with Agency support, began implementing a pilot land-certification scheme back in 2005 to promote property rights and to address serious problems of declining agricultural productivity, resource degradation and conflict over boundaries.
The rationale was simple: If people had more secure user rights to the land they worked, they would take better care of it. With more productive land, the country’s overall food and economic security would improve as well.
The Government of Ethiopia is the owner of all land in the country, and regional governments have primary authority over who gets to use the land. For decades, farmers living and working a plot had very little security and limited protection against either Imperial-era landlords or the Marxist government. They were conditioned by a long history of unequal land holdings, and susceptible to unforeseen land seizures and nationalization and repeated land redistribution.
These factors made life hard and unpredictable for poor smallholder farmers, who make up the majority of Ethiopia’s population. It also turned out to be devastating for the country’s agricultural productivity. Lack of security among millions of smallholder farmers was contributing to the misuse and overuse of land-based resources. A hostile social and legal environment meant farmers had few incentives to invest time or effort improving or conserving their land or in planting more lucrative perennial crops. With low yields, people were often hungry.
700,000 Land Parcels
A profound shift in land tenure arrangements began in 2002 when the government stopped redistributing land. This change created a window of opportunity. Starting in 2004, USAID officials worked with the Ethiopian Government to pilot a program to give landholders clear use rights in selected regions, including allowing them to lease the land to others for income. Read more from USAID Front Lines »
Similar stories have been playing out across Ethiopia ever since the government, with Agency support, began implementing a pilot land-certification scheme back in 2005 to promote property rights and to address serious problems of declining agricultural productivity, resource degradation and conflict over boundaries.
The rationale was simple: If people had more secure user rights to the land they worked, they would take better care of it. With more productive land, the country’s overall food and economic security would improve as well.
The Government of Ethiopia is the owner of all land in the country, and regional governments have primary authority over who gets to use the land. For decades, farmers living and working a plot had very little security and limited protection against either Imperial-era landlords or the Marxist government. They were conditioned by a long history of unequal land holdings, and susceptible to unforeseen land seizures and nationalization and repeated land redistribution.
These factors made life hard and unpredictable for poor smallholder farmers, who make up the majority of Ethiopia’s population. It also turned out to be devastating for the country’s agricultural productivity. Lack of security among millions of smallholder farmers was contributing to the misuse and overuse of land-based resources. A hostile social and legal environment meant farmers had few incentives to invest time or effort improving or conserving their land or in planting more lucrative perennial crops. With low yields, people were often hungry.
700,000 Land Parcels
A profound shift in land tenure arrangements began in 2002 when the government stopped redistributing land. This change created a window of opportunity. Starting in 2004, USAID officials worked with the Ethiopian Government to pilot a program to give landholders clear use rights in selected regions, including allowing them to lease the land to others for income. Read more from USAID Front Lines »
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