Abstract
Land is a crucial resource for rural communities of Ethiopia for more than 85% of the population is engaged in agriculture. However, land policy in Ethiopia has been a very debating and controversial issue for the last few decades. The debates revolve around state versus private ownership of rural land. The current government of Ethiopia preferred state ownership of land and for which it has received serious critics form opposition political parties, academia, international organizations, and donors. The basic reason behind the critics is that state ownership of rural land creates tenure insecurity, discourages long-term investment on land, and decreases productivity. As a response to these critics, the government of Ethiopia has implemented a rural land certification program in its major regional states, including Amhara regional state. The major objective of this paper was, therefore, to systematically review such land-related issues as land tenure history of Ethiopia; debates related to modes of land ownership; land policies; and causes, processes & effects of rural land certification. As the review clearly indicates the controversial issue of rural land is still unresolved. It is possible to say that the rural land certification program could not bring meaningful positive effects compared to its intended objectives. There is still a considerable amount of tenure insecurity in the minds of the land holders; farmers prefer short-term investment on land; and land productivity is very low in Amhara regional state. Keywords : Land Tenure, Land Policy, Land-Related Debate, Land Certification DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/71-04 Publication date: November 30 th 2020
Highlights
Land is a crucial resource for rural communities of Ethiopia for more than 85% of the population is engaged in agriculture
The basic reason behind the critics is that state ownership of rural land creates tenure insecurity, discourages long-term investment on land, and decreases productivity
There is still a considerable amount of tenure insecurity in the minds of the land holders; farmers prefer short-term investment on land; and land productivity is very low in Amhara regional state
Summary
Driving forces for land certification Both the federal and regional laws and proclamations in Ethiopia claim that rural land shall be owned by the state rather than individual farmers These laws and proclamations stated that land holders are liable to lose their land when it is needed for public use, development programs and investment purposes. Despite the massive registration of rural land-use rights and issuing of millions of land certificates in the Amhara region, there is still considerable tenure insecurity; because the fear of further redistribution of land like that of 1997 will occur at some point in the future lingers in the minds of the peasantry (Dessalegn 2004; Berhanu and Fayera 2005; Tesfaye 2003). Land holders surrounding urban centers, near to investment sites, and closer to surface transport networks are frequently suffering from land expropriation with very small compensation which can be gained after several ups and down
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