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The Current Government Land Policy and
Administration-(Post-1991 Period)
The change of the government in May 1991
doesn’t bring any change on the form of land ownership. The state
ownership of land continued to be the only type of ownership allowed to
exist in the country. Farmers, communities, and private investors were
permitted to only have a land use rights with a limited transferability
rights. These could be refereed in the articles of the Ethiopian
constitution:
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Article 40(3)…The right of
ownership of rural and urban land, as well as of all natural resources,
is exclusively vested in the sate and in the peoples of Ethiopia.
Land is a common property of the Nation, Nationalities and peoples of
Ethiopia and shall not be subject to sale or to other means of exchange.
·
Article 40(4)…Ethiopian
peasants have right to obtain land without payment and the protection
against eviction from their possession. The implementation of this shall be
specified by law.
·
Article 40(5)…Ethiopian
pastoralists have the right to free land for grazing and cultivation as well
as the right not to be displaced from their own lands. The implementation
shall be specified by law.
·
Article 40(6)…the government
shall ensure the right of private investors to the use of land on the basis
of payment arrangements established by law.
·
Article 40 (7)…Every Ethiopian
shall have the full right to immovable property he builds and to the
permanent improvements he brings about on the land by his labour or
capital….include the right to alienate, to bequeath, and where the right of
use expires, to move his property, transfer his title, or claim compensation
for it.
·
Article 40(8)… Without
prejudice to the right to private property, the government may expropriate
private property for public purposes subject to payment in advance of
compensation commensurate to the value of the property.
The same constitution on article 52(2c-d)
gave the powers and functions for regional governments to work out their
region specific land policy, strategies, land and other natural resources
administration in accordance with federal laws. As a follow up to this
provision at the Federal level, the Federal Rural land Administration
proclamation was enacted in 1997(proclamation No. 89/1997). Based on all
these legal provisions at the regional States level, of the eight regional
states, four regions ( Tigray, Amhara, Southern and Oromia) have enacted
their region specific rural land use and administration policies,
proclamations, guidelines and established their land administration
institutions that looks for land issues.
In the recently (November 2001) released
agriculture and rural development policies and strategies document of the
federal government, the land use, policy and administration issues of the
constitution were elaborated and discussed in great details. Emphasis was
given to counter argue on the existence of the private ownership of land and
tried to justify the importance of land holding under state ownership. The
document tried to give some directions to the regional states to implement
their own land policy and administration too. Moreover, it stated that land
can not be sold, exchanged, or used as a collateral to borrow money; farmers
use right of land freely forever without any limit in time; the transfer
right of land to inheritors; and the right to rent out or in. The private
investors could get or access land from the government or the small farmers
through lease or rent arrangements but with time period limitations put by
the government. Redistribution of land is considered also as unavoidable
phenomena due to the existence of landless rural youth.
The Practical Implementation of Major
Land Policy Issues
The practical policy implementations of the
land tenure issues vary from region to region. In terms of access to land,
the landless farmers got land through redistribution of land ( Amhara Case),
through redistribution of communally used mountainous lands ( Amhara and
Tigray regions), and through inheritance. Moreover, the land less farmers
has entered in to different forms of share cropping arrangements and land
rent in which the land use right remained in to the hands of the original
farmer. On the other hand the private investors’ access land from the
government, the small scale farmer and tribal leaders of the pastoral areas
through land lease or rent for a limited period of time. The problems
associated to these are absence of broader options for land market and
limited transferability of land rights that affects land use efficiency,
tenure security, credit access, free labor movement , private investment on
land and rural areas. The existence of redistribution of land aggravated
also the problems of land tenure insecurity, resulted in small and
fragmented land holdings, and reluctance to made long term investment on
land. These all leads to high natural resources degradation, poor
productivity of labor and land and finally to deepened poverty. The
existence of insecurity of tenure is recognized or acknowledged by the
government but up to now there is no known concrete measure taken.
These days the formal institutionalization of
the rural land administration is an ongoing activity of some of the regional
states. Previously the land administration was handed by different
institutions ( the regional administration, local administration, investment
office, regional and woreda agricultural offices) with no clear mandates
.This showed that rather than administering land by technical institution,
there was high level of politicians’ involvement in administering land up to
the local level. Even though the government accepted the importance of an
independent land administration institution, up to now there exists an
institutional gap at federal level that look’s for national land use policy
formulation, policy revision, land administration , coordinate research on
land tenure issues, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation. The land
administration team established under the newly restructured Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development is not even the right answer to the
question of having strong and well staffed land administration institution
at federal level.
Major Arguments going on land tenure issues
The major arguments on land ownership issues
of Ethiopia are mainly grouped in to three-
1) State ownership only,
2) Privatization of all lands and
3) The existence of all types of land
ownerships (State, Private, Communal/ tribal, Organizations, Companies,
Farmers Groups etc) in Ethiopia.
Different scholars and experts who worked on
land tenure issues of Ethiopia have argued that the current land tenure
system needs improvement and change to bring about growth in agriculture,
rural development and in general national economic growth.
In support of this idea the recent research
results of the Ethiopian Economic Association (October 2002) indicated
that…Rather than being fixated by the public/Private dichotomy that
characterizes the current debate in the country, a more flexible land
holding system centered around providing security of tenure and that takes
into account local sensibilities including a mixture of private, state and
communal holdings might generate significant support among the farming
population and resolve the structural problems facing the sector. Moreover,
the study uncovers the existence of informal land transactions through
mortgage, rent/contract, sale, gift, etc. under the absence of formal land
markets in the country.
In general the contra arguments supports that
there is a need for land policy reforms in Ethiopia because the current
policy has not generated desired economic outcomes in terms of generating
optimum results in efficiency and environmental concerns.
Issues of land policy and Administration
The land tenure issues that are not resolved
to date are:
The presence of land tenure insecurity,
Poor investment on land,
Farmers fear for another new land
redistribution,
It is not clear how peasants’ rights
free access to land can be assured in practice,
How much land peasants/farmers are
entitled or not (Derg time- the maximum ceiling for a farmer was 10 ha.),
Prohibition of the existence of the
different types of land ownership including communal, private and state,
Higher level of land fragmentation,
Population pressure,
The presence of accelerated
deforestation and higher land degradation,
Restriction on transferability of land
use rights,
Land not used as a collateral to get
credit from financial institutions,
Absence of national land use policy,
Absence of independent Federal land
administration institution dealing with applied land policy research,
policy review and formulation, coordination, land registration and
administration issues,
Absence of an in-depth study in
critically important areas of land use policy issues,
Urban- per-urban conflicts on land,
Problems in valuation of land for
compensations,
Limited professional capacity in the
area of land policy and administration
Land is now attached to political power
and the country needs a new tenure system that frees land from being a
political instrument.
The existence of all these major problems
constrained the flow of investment capital, knowledge and skilled management
to the rural areas where we have “abundant land and labor”. Moreover, the
small scale farmers are not in a position freely to transfer their land use
rights and engaged in off-farm activities due to the fear that their land
will be taken after few years of physical absence in the rural areas. This
situations tied up the free mobility of land, labor, capital and knowledge
to the different areas of the country and resulted in to less private
investment on land, less use of improved technology, absence of credit,
increased land degradation, reduced productivity, less income, reduced
efficiency of land use , increased food insecurity and end up in to a
poverty trap.
Given all the above constraints and contra
arguments going on in the country, the Government of Ethiopia is to some
extent willing to consider options to enhance access, tenure security,
reduce fragmentation, etc; but not willing to consider the existence of
private ownership of land as one option and its transferability through sale
and mortgage because it demands changes in some of the articles of the
constitution.
Recent Patterns in Land Policy and
Administration Initiatives Being Implemented in Various Regions of Ethiopia
The regional governments have attempted to
study and formulate region specific land use policy and administration based
on the federal and regional constitutional rights. The Amhara, Tigray,
Southren and Oromiya regions are in the forefront in endorsing their region
specific land use and administration policies while other regions are not
yet formally released their regional land use policies. In Afar and Somali
region it was reported that land is mainly administered by the major clans
instead of the proper regional states. The pastoral regions land
administration issues are not well known and it needs a through study
including what is going on in terms of who owns the land and land
administrations practices, land lease to investors, the pastoralist’s right
and land tenure security.
Amhara Region:
The Amhara National Regional State is the
only region which implemented partial land redistribution in some parts of
the region after the fall of the Derg regime-in 1997/98. But latter on, the
region issued the rural land use and administration policy in the year 2000
through “proclamation Issued to Determine the Administration and Use of The
Rural Land in the Amhara National Region No. 46/2000”. The content of the
proclamation doesn’t have major variations from the federal and Regional
governments’ constitutions but it tried to elaborate the land use and
administration issues from their implementation point of view. Some of the
issues considered are: the issuance of land certificate to all land users,
prohibition of new land redistribution, the possibility of land
consolidation by exchange, obligations of the land users in terms of land
use and conservation, obligations to use the communal lands and investor’s
lands, land use right transfer through gift, and rent, lease( up to 25
years), inheritance only for those family members living in the rural areas
and also for the farmers who supported them ( letorew sew mawores ).
The Amhara region is the one also to
establish an independent land administration institution to implement the
land use policy and proclamations at regional and woreda levels. The
Establishment of the Environment Protection, Land Administration and Use
Authority was enacted in Proclamation No.47/2000. This proclamation gives
the power and responsibilities for the Authority to administer the rural
lands based on appropriate federal and regional constitutions.
The Authority is delegated to issue
directives necessary to execute the land proclamation.
Up to now piloting and some preparatory works
have been implemented at regional and woreda levels. Awareness creation
workshops at Zonal and woreda level have been conducted together with the
wider distribution of the land policy and proclamation documents. They tried
to release the first draft of the land proclamation implementation guide
line for further discussion and improvement. The pilot project ( two woredas)
experiences to establish a land recording, titling and administration system
were positive and are going to be scaled up through out the region. The
Authority strated to issue land holders book with all the information
Despite all these efforts, on- the ground implementation of the regional
land use and administration policy is very slow and challenging due to
capacity and capability problems facing the Authority. This is really a new
exercise for Ethiopia. The technical staff assigned are good in their
professional area but do not have wider experience or non in the areas of
policy analysis and development. Even the institutional arrangement and
staffing problems are not simple. The Authority has started to issue first
level and second level land certificate to farmers. The importance of this
land data recording and certification was aasumed to increase tenure
security at farmers and community levels.
Tigray Region
The Tigray regional state has enacted its
regional land use and administration policy since 1997 through proclamation
number 23/1997 and some detail issues were treated in regulation number
15/2002. With only some exceptions, the land tenure issues incorporated in
the proclamation are not different from the federal constitution and the
Amhara region land proclamation. The specifics of Tigry’s land proclamation
are: the minimum holding size determined to be 1/3 of a ha. ; renting of
farmers land to investors is possible only for 2 and 20 years depending on
the type of technology used traditional or modern respectively; the
importance of registration of agreements entered between investor and the
farmer; transferability of lease hold through inheritance but not renting to
other third party; the land administration responsibility given for two
institutions (Bureau of Agriculture and The Administration).But recently the
regional government has decided to establish an independent land
administration institution similar to that of Amhara region.
In Tirgy region the implementation of the
land administration policy is in progress with the prime leadership of the
regional and woreda administration council. Tremendous efforts has been made
in issuing land certificate to farmers (83%) that indicates the location of
the parcel, bounding holders, description on quality of land and land
transaction type.
Oromiya
Region
Recently in 2002, the Oromiya National
Regional State issued a rural land use and administration proclamation and
institutionalized the regional Land Administration and natural resources
Conservation Authority. In the process of formulating the land policy, the
region has tried to take advantage of the two regional states experiences.
This helped the region to incorporate some important elements of the land
tenure issues that are overlooked in other’s regional policies. The
specifics to the region’s policy are: Communal land use right is respected;
a farmer has a right to transfer his use right to all his family members
through inheritance; the minimum farm size determined to be ½ ha for annual
crops and ¼ ha for perennial crops; no new redistribution of farmers land
except irrigated lands; farmers could transfer their land rights through
rent but for a limited time period-3 years for those using “traditional
technology” and 15 years for those using “modern technology”. The newly
established land administration institution is under process of
restructuring and it is hardly to comment on their policy implementation
statues.
Approaches & Experience from Other Countries that could benefit Ethiopia
The history of African countries land tenure
systems vary from country to country due to the peculiarities of peoples
cultural back ground, history of the people, the political system they
followed, the socio-economic situations of a given country. The growing
evidence is that agricultural growth and efficient management of natural
resources are dependent on the political, legal and administrative
capabilities of the rural communities to determine their own future and
protect their natural resources and other economic interests. The lack of
this power or lack of democracy is translated into insecure tenure rights,
abuse of common property and resources, environmental degradation,
disenfranchisement of rural people, particularly women, and the breakdown or
weakening of rural economic institutions.
In the whole process tenure security is
placed as the basis of sustainable management of resources. Security of
tenure is associated with four sets of rights: use rights, transfer rights,
exclusion and inclusion rights, and enforcement rights. Tenure systems are
categorized in to open access (no mans land), communal (defined group),
private (individual legal entity) and state (public sector) based on
ownership or exclusive rights. In Africa the indigenous tenure systems are
said to be dynamic and evolve with changing social, economic and political
circumstances, and that customary tenure rights tend to evolve towards more
inalienable individual rights as population pressure increases and as
agriculture becomes more commercialized.
Most African governments after political
independence have taken different land reform measures. Thus the experiences
on land policy formulation and implementation vary from country to country.
There are ample experiences on land tenure issues else where in African
(Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia), Latin American countries (Chile and
Brazil), and countries recently coming out of the socialist system that
could be beneficial for Ethiopia’s land policy reform and administration.
This opportunity has to be utilized both by policy makers, experts,
researchers and others by organizing national discussion forum on land
tenure issues, conduct research, training, and organize a joint study tours
for policy makers, experts, private sector, researchers etc.
Concluding
Remarks:
The land tenure issues in Ethiopia are
complex and critical for the country’s development. The issues have to get
enough attention and follow up by the government, the people of Ethiopia,
Development practitioners, the media, political parties, academia, policy
researchers, NGO’s and the donor communities.
Experience elsewhere in Africa shows that it
could take 8-10 years to implement land policy and administration at a
larger scale. Discrete steps in a land reform process could include
multi-stakeholder consultations; land policy research, formulation of
policy, laws, regulations and administrative procedures; identification of
institutional responsibilities; training of officials; implementation of
pilot activities, and larger-scale program implementation. In order to
initiate some pilot activities to be implemented in different parts of the
country it will be necessary to revisit the article 40 of the constitutions
that restricted land ownership right only to the state and abolished sale
and mortgage as a land right transfer mechanisms. However, the current
regional government’s efforts to address the land tenure insecurity problem
and the establishment of land administration institutions that have the
responsibility to administer land and give land certificates need to be
encouraged and supported. They are laying the ground work that will not be
affected even the government changes its current policy. This sort of
initiative will lay the ground for further improvement in policy dialog and
serve as a focal institution for research, networking and advocacy. The
regional exercises are not a donor driven type, but definitely there is
support for the initiatives, that I assure you.
It is possible also that, to come out of the
poverty traps and fastens the country over all country development; we need
to engage positively in a land policy and land administration reform process
and dialog as a priority. According to my understanding, the Ethiopian
government and people will benefit, if the government of Ethiopia allow the existence of
the different types of land ownerships (State, private, communal/tribal,
organizations and etc.) at the same time in the country. This could be
achieved easily by converting the current land use rights in to ownership
rights ( i.e. 85% of privatization of land ) and allow the transfer of
land ownership rights freely through rent, sale, inheritance, gift, mortgage
etc. The only requirement to do this is to improve or change the
constitution article 40(3). By doing these the state will not loses the
right to take any land for public development purposes by paying appropriate
compensation based on proper land valuation systems, rules and regulations
and the farmers will not sale their land automatically and move to urban
areas to become a social problems. Farmers know how to decide on their land
rights. In addition to these there must be a strong national land use and
administration organization ( institution) that coordinate national land
policy and administration reforms and support the regional government’s
institution efforts; establish a national land forum for continues dialog,
networking, advocacy, research; and capacity building at all levels; and
increase the role of media in advocacy on land rights. Last but not least
land tenure issues has to researched by multidisciplinary professionals
(not on amateur bases) and results need to be communicated to policy makers
to take an informed and fact based policy decisions.
This is just to contribute few ideas for the
debate, but I would also like to see forums to be organized in Ethiopia to
debate on concrete proposals to influence the policy reform process.
Thanks
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