Abstract
Land has been curtail national asset and seen as central to economy, the social and political spheres of community as well as the overall society. The objective of this paper has been to assess the implication of accessing land and agricultural based livelihoods of smallholder on land use. The underpinning research involved both primary and secondary data. Primary data were generated using household surveys, focus group discussions and observations. The study revealed that unlike the northern, central highlands and southern parts of Ethiopia, access to land in the northwestern lowlands has emanated from traditional open access regimes. Here, increasing demand for land, formalization process of rural land ownership and access occurring since 2003 combined with poor soil and water conservation practices have negatively affected the productivity of land. Long-standing traditions of agricultural extensification practices coupled with shifting cultivation and open grazing have failed to remain viable strategies of smallholder farmers. Consequently, smallholder farmers have experienced unwise population induced agricultural intensification practices, resulting in decreasing land productivity. Based on the evidences from this study, it is concluded that unless proper measures are taken, the current agricultural based livelihood strategies are not in line with sustainable land use practices. Key words: Agriculture, land use, livelihood, strategy.
Highlights
Land, which is the central to economy, social and political spheres of community, society and the nation at large is regarded as crucial asset
The land size and productivity per a given plot are decreasing in the study area, whereas the needs to satisfy household demand are increasing, which could be explained with fundamental economic questions about production and populations
The paradox leads to question how farm households meet their demands under limited land and declining trends productivity while ensuring sustainable land use system
Summary
Land, which is the central to economy, social and political spheres of community, society and the nation at large is regarded as crucial asset. For farming households, whose livelihoods are partly or entirely dependent on agriculture and based on traditional production system, land play pivotal role (Hirut and Giovarelli, 2013) in shaping and directing livelihoods and it may cause multiple difficulties for livelihood strategies (Ellis and Allison, 2004) and utilization agricultural and natural resource management (Shimelles et al, 2009). As noted by Espinosa (2014), land tenure is Africa’s most precious and coveted asset. This is true in Ethiopia as land is in high demand and is mainstay of smallholder’s livelihoods. There are different ways of accessing land and different land suitability depending on the purpose and use of both these factors have implication on land use, land cover, livelihoods and natural resources conservation
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