Abstract
This study examines
broadly the Federal land policy framework as well as legislation pertaining to
land issued recently by the four main Killils, namely, Tigrai, Amhara, Oromia
and Southern Killil. It also looks into the new initiatives undertaken by the
government to address the problems of tenure insecurity, namely user right
documentation, underway in Amhara and Tigrai, and resettlement.
Critics of the land system have
argued that the policy promotes insecurity of tenure because it allows, among
other things, periodic redistribution, is inefficient because it constrains
land transactions and has inhibited the emergence of a dynamic land market,
promotes fragmentation of land and growing pressure on land resources because
it discourages rural people from leaving their farms for other employment
opportunities; it also gives the state immense power over the farming
population because land is state property. The legislations issued by the
different Killils are not in harmony with each other or with Federal
legislation, and, all except that issued by Oromia, have not sufficiently
addressed the main causes of tenure insecurity.
One of the new initiatives being
tried out in Tigrai and Amhara is user right documentation. Documentation is
being undertaken within existing legal and policy frameworks. While it may be
too early to judge, it does appear that documentation has promoted a sense of
security among peasants who have received the documents. This is to be
welcomed. However, the documents do not entitle holders any more benefits than
those contained in existing legislations. Holders cannot use the document as
collateral to borrow from financial institutions. Documentation has been
undertaken for the most part without the use of modern surveying and mapping
techniques. Documentation by itself,
however well it is undertaken, will not be sufficient to ensure full tenure
security.
The resettlement
program now under way is a cause for great concern. The program is already
facing many difficulties because it was carried out without adequate
preparation, and under the erroneous assumption that there is plenty of unused
arable land in each Killil to accommodate a large settler population.
The
study concludes by stressing the need for a fresh public debate on the land
question, focusing on tenure security (instead of tenure regimes as has been
the case in the past) because, despite government's objections, the subject is
too important to be ignored.
Address: Forum for Social Studies, P. O. Box 25864 code 1000 Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
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