Impacts of urban expansion on the livelihoods of local farming communities: The case of Burayu town, Ethiopia

Abstract

In most African countries, including Ethiopia, there is growing interest in the need to comprehend the connection between urban expansion and farmers' livelihoods. The aim of the study is to assess the impact of urban expansion on the livelihoods of expropriated farmers in Burayu, Ethiopia. In addition to the paired Sample T-Test model, we used the mixed research approach and the sustainable livelihood framework as analytical tools to understand the links and coping strategies. The analysis of the different urban expansion parameters revealed that the expansion was driven mainly due to increase in investment (56.3%) and as a result of the designation of the town as an industrial development corridor at country level by the government. On average, 42.19% of respondents were entirely expropriated and evicted while the majority of respondents (57.81%) only lost part of their agricultural land. According to a logistic regression analysis, women's economic position was 13.71 times more likely to improve than men's following urbanization (AOR = 13.71, 95%: 1.61–116.79). In comparison to their counterparts, those without employment opportunities had a 98% lower likelihood of improving after urbanization (AOR = 0.02, 95%: 0.00–0.56). The findings of this research indicated that urban biased policy and policy actions drive informal developments. To make urban expansion orderly and sustainable, development policies need to be comprehensive; the expropriation process should be transparent and participatory and livelihood restoration plan should be part of the urban expansion scheme. The adoption of the framework for sustainable livelihood as an analytical tool in urban settings is one of the novel contributions of the study.