Large-scale Agricultural Investments Research Articles

Large-scale agricultural investment in Ethiopia: Development, challenges and policy responses

In 1991, Ethiopia’s development strategy positioned smallholder farmers in a vital role in increasing agricultural productivity that could serve as a growth engine for the overall economic development of the country. However, the incorporation of agricultural commercialization as a development strategy in 2005 brought an influx of large-scale agricultural investment (LSAI) in Ethiopia and took away the special role that smallholder farmers had previously played. This paper critically analyzes how rural land issues, LSAI, and development challenges are addressed by the agricultural policy and how gaps of institutional capacity with regards to LSAI in Ethiopia are managed and monitored. This qualitative study uses document analysis, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and personal observation methods to explore processes, activities, and events found in society; the study relies on Bacchi’s (2009) model of policy analysis known as ‘What is the Problem Represented to be’ (WPR). On the basis of this approach, failure to address ‘rural land rights’ has been determined as a core problem in the policy, which has resulted in competition for land use rights among smallholder farmers, pointing out the lack of preparedness and inability of the policy and all government institutions to handle socio-economic disruptions related to the expansion and development of LSAI in Ethiopia. Reconsidering constitutional and highly politicized land tenure security will be of paramount importance in bringing about agricultural transformation in Ethiopia.

Employment effect of large-scale agricultural investment on women empowerment in Gambella Region, Ethiopia

PurposeDespite intense debates about the outcomes of large-scale agricultural investment in developing countries, gender issues and employment effects of such investment on women empowerment are very thin in the literature. The main purpose of this article is, therefore, to examine the effect of women's access to income-earning jobs on their empowerment.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a quasi-experimental research design and a mixed research approach. The authors collected primary data from 65 employed and 85 unemployed women and ten key informants. Principal component analysis (PCA) and propensity score matching (PSM) techniques were used to construct indexes and assess employment effect.FindingsThe article finds that consistent with the argument of the resource in culture theory, women's employment in large-scale commercial farms does not have an effect on their empowerment level.Practical implicationsThe result implies that the government should strengthen gender sensitization programs and facilitate the formation of well-organized and profitable alternative income generating activities for women in such ways that improve their empowerment.Originality/valueThis article assesses the effect of women employment on their empowerment and contributes to filling gaps in the empirical and theoretical literature. It could also contribute to academic and policy debates in the area of large-scale commercial farming based on the actual evidence.

A Systematic Mapping Protocol: Large Scale Agricultural Investments and Land Markets

A Systematic Mapping Protocol: Large Scale Agricultural Investments and Land Markets

Environmental Impacts of Large-Scale Agricultural Investments: Empirical Evidence from the Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia

Environmental Impacts of Large-Scale Agricultural Investments: Empirical Evidence from the Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia

Impact of land acquisition for large-scale agricultural investments on income and asset possession of displaced households in Ethiopia

Displacement due to Large-Scale Agricultural Investments (LSAIs) is on the rise globally and in Africa. However, the impact of such displacement on the income and asset holding status of the displaced smallholders is not well explored. This study, therefore, empirically analyzed such impact taking Ethiopia as a case. A household survey covering different aspects of rural income sources and assets was collected from 255 displaced farmers and 266 non-displaced farmers in Adamitulu and Dugda districts. Propensity score matching technique (PSM) was applied to assess the impacts. The study findings indicated a significant reduction of income and assets among the displaced households. The mean annual income of the displaced households has declined by 72% (97,000 Ethiopian Birr (ETB)) compared to that of the income of the non-displaced households. Moreover, the livestock and productive assets holding of the displaced smallholders declined by 2.4 tropical livestock units (TLU) and 5219.6 ETB (69%) respectively compared to the non-displaced households. This implies displacement due to the LSAIs has worsened the income and asset condition of the displaced households in Ethiopia. Therefore, policymakers should put in place specific interventions to protect the income and asset holding of displaced smallholders. Empirical analysis of the impacts of LSAIs on livestock and productive asset possession of the displaced households is a key contribution of this study, and not well researched before.

Emerging agricultural expansion in northern regions: Insights from land-use research

Emerging agricultural expansion in northern regions: Insights from land-use research

Contesting large-scale land acquisitions in the Global South

• The analysis synthesizes the case study literature to explain how communities contest large-scale agricultural investment. • Communities use varied tactics, mostly from the repertoires of everyday resistance, collective action, and rights-based means. • Rural communities face unfavorable circumstances for organized protests. • Certain political opportunities and involvement of local leaders enable contentious collective action or rights-based resistance. As agricultural investors have acquired large tracts of land in the Global South recently, many affected communities and civil society groups have contested what they perceive as land grabbing. These communities have struggled to retain their land, protect their livelihoods, or benefit from the investment. There has been much academic interest in these conflicts. Studying the emerging literature, this review identifies the main theoretical perspectives and synthesizes the case study evidence. The goal is to better understand how communities contest large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) and to explain their tactics. For this purpose, a sample was collected that consists of 46 studies and 28 LSLA cases from the Global South. Since most of these studies adopt single theoretical perspectives from resistance research, the present study links multiple theoretical strands, most importantly everyday resistance, contentious politics, and legal mobilization. Based on the cases reviewed, the analysis shows that the tactics of contention are diverse but can also be grouped into three repertoires. It is found that affected communities use everyday resistance mostly when they face particularly unfavorable circumstances. In contrast, certain political opportunities and involvement of local leaders enable organized protests through either collective action or rights-based contention. Overall, this study contributes to the literature not only by bringing together case observations to see the big picture, but also by identifying the main repertoires, tentative frequencies of tactics, and less relevant circumstances and mechanisms. In practical terms, the findings suggest that development and civil society actors can play important roles for assisting rural populations and local leaders in fending off land grabs.

Structural land use dynamics and its implications on the local community’s access to land resources in Anger watershed, Southwestern Ethiopia

ABSTRACT We examined the micro-scale spatiotemporal dynamics in structural land use and its differential impacts on small-scale farmers’ access to land resources in Anger watershed, southwestern Ethiopia. The analysis of historical land use land cover change detections was integrated with data obtained from 335 households, group discussants, and interviews with experts and officials. The results revealed that agricultural land and settlements increased at the expense of other land covers. These conditions were severe in the kolla agroecology due to unique historical land-use dynamics mainly in late 1976+ and since 1988 which were associated with the state-farm and private investment respectively. The process affects small-scale farmers’ access to land and natural resources and contributed to differential livelihood adverse. The kolla community expressed land deal processes in the area negatively, labeled the investment activities as contrasting to investment initiatives of the country, and the conditions have been compromising their livelihood system. Thus, the issues of land resources rights of the local community and the state policy dynamics on the land investments, mainly referring to the livelihood systems in the kolla agroecology seek more attention. The development interventions such as the large-scale agricultural investments in the area need a prior policy and strategic planning on how to realize the sustainable co-existence among the large-scale investors, local community, and natural environment.

Large-scale agricultural investments in Eastern Africa: consequences for small-scale farmers and the environment

ABSTRACT Available empirical evidence about the impacts of large-scale agricultural investments (LAIs) in low-income countries is skewed towards the assessment of economic benefits. How LAIs affect land use and the environment is less understood. This study assesses how small-scale farmers living close to an LAI perceive the changes LAI's inflict on land use, land management, and tree cover in Kenya, Mozambique, and Madagascar. It also investigates their perceptions regarding LAI's impacts on the general environment and people's health, as well as on employment opportunities, infrastructure, and conflicts. 271 small-scale farmers were interviewed and their perceptions supported by a remote-sensing-based analysis of land use and land cover changes. Results show that LAIs contributed both directly and indirectly to deforestation in Mozambique, triggered changes in small-scale farmers’ agricultural land management in Kenya, and caused pastoralists to lose access to grazing land in Madagascar. Despite some benefits from employment opportunities and infrastructure improvement, the majority of respondents perceived the overall impacts of LAIs as negative, highlighting reduced access to land and water, pollution, health issues, and unsatisfactory working conditions. We urgently need to invest in devising concrete transformative options to improve LAIs’ contribution to sustainable development in their host countries.

Operationalizing the agricultural innovation system concept in a developing country context – examining the case of the MiDA programme in Ghana

ABSTRACT Purpose This paper argues that large-scale agricultural programmes embedded with the Agricultural Innovations Systems (AIS) thinking helps in facilitating innovations. Design/Methodology/Approach The study adopted a qualitative approach involving focus group discussions, key informant interviews and secondary document analysis. This approach helped to obtain an in-depth understanding of the processes involved, why and how innovation takes place. Findings The design and implementation of the MiDA programme had elements of the AIS embedded. This helped to contribute to success in areas that aligned and failures in areas that fell short. Stakeholders encountered implementation challenges that did not ensure reflective learning, conversely, some actors worked independently of others, mimicking linear extension approaches. Practical Implications The future of extension and research in Ghana should not be prescriptive (top-down) but fully integrate farmers and wider stakeholders in the design and implementation of agricultural investment programmes. This is premised on addressing challenges relating to trust, effective leadership and entrepreneurship. Theoretical Implications Adds on to the limited use of AIS as a conceptual and operational tool in supporting large-scale agricultural investment in the global south by incorporating AIS thinking in policy formulation and implementation of large-scale programmes. Originality/Value This article adds to the unbalanced literature in Sub-Saharan Africa on the use of AIS in the design and implementation of large-scale programmes. Additionally, it highlights the use of AIS in extension and research in facilitating innovations.

Evaluating the Impact of Large-Scale Agricultural Investments on Household Food Security Using an Endogenous Switching Regression Model

This study set out to estimate the effects of large-scale agricultural investments (LSAIs) on household food security in one community each in Kenya, Madagascar and Mozambique. An endogenous switching regression model was adopted to control for a possible selection bias due to unobserved factors. It was found that households with members employed by large-scale agricultural investment companies were more likely larger households headed by younger migrant males holding smaller plots and fewer livestock than non-engaged households. The endogenous switching regression results confirmed the presence of both a positive and negative selection bias. In general, the results showed that households with a member employed by an LSAI enjoyed better household food security, higher dietary diversity, better food consumption scores and more adequate household food provisioning. Households without employed members could also enjoy these benefits should the LSAIs employ their members. However, the seasonal nature and low wages paid by LSAI may only support the purchase of food and not facilitate savings and investments to significantly improve food security.

Large-scale Agricultural Investments and Female Employment in Nigerian Communities

This study examines how large-scale agricultural investments (LSAIs) affect employment outcomes of female households in Nigeria. It focuses on wage income and labour allocations to agricultural activities for households in communities with LSAIs compared with households in communities without LSAIs. It engages Wave 4 (2018/2019) of the Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) dataset using the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) technique. The results show a positive relationship with the household income living in communities with LSAIs, but a negative relationship with the labour allocation to agricultural activities. Furthermore, the findings indicate that households in communities with LSAIs received higher wages and spend fewer hours in agricultural activities. Also, though female-head households spend more hours on agricultural activities than male-headed households, they earn less. Therefore, the study submits with some recommendations on reducing the possible adverse effects of LSAIs and optimising its positive impact, especially for females in rural communities where most of such investments occur.

Impact of large-scale agricultural investment on the livelihood assets of local community in Gambella region, Ethiopia

PurposeThe Ethiopian government is promoting large-scale agricultural investment in lowland regions of the country, claiming that the investment could improve livelihoods of the local people. The outcomes of the investment, however, have been a controversial issue in public and academic discourses. Particularly, studies that quantify the impact of such investment on the asset base of local people are extremely limited. The main purpose of this study is, therefore, to investigate the actual effect of the investment on the asset of the local people and inform policy decision.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a quasi-experimental research design and a mixed research approach. Data were collected from 342 households drawn through a systematic sampling technique and analysed by using multiple correspondence analysis and propensity score matching.FindingsThe study finds that the investment has a significant negative impact on the wealth status of affected households and deteriorated their asset base.Practical implicationsThe results imply that inclusive and fair business models that safeguard the benefits of the investment hosting community and encourage a strong collaboration and synergy between the community and private investors are needed.Originality/valueThis study analyses the impact of large-scale agricultural investment on the asset of affected community based on various livelihood capital. In doing so, it significantly contributes to knowledge gap in the empirical literature. It also contributes to the ongoing academic and policy debates based on actual evidence collected from local community.

Why do large-scale agricultural investments induce different socio-economic, food security, and environmental impacts? Evidence from Kenya, Madagascar, and Mozambique

Large-scale agricultural investments (LAIs) transform land use systems worldwide. There is, however, limited understanding about how the common global drivers of land use change induce different forms of agricultural investment and produce different impacts on the ground. This article provides a cross-country comparative analysis of how differences in business models, land use changes, and governance systems explain differences in socio-economic, food security, and environmental impacts of LAIs in Kenya, Madagascar, and Mozambique. It brings together results on these aspects generated in the AFGROLAND project that collected data in a multi-method approach via household surveys, business model surveys, semi-structured household interviews, life-cycle assessments of farm production, analysis of remote-sensing data, key informant interviews, and document analysis. For the present project synthesis, we combined a collaborative expert workshop with a comparative analysis of 16 LAIs. The results show that the LAIs follow four distinctive impact patterns, ranging from widespread adverse impacts to moderate impacts. Results demonstrate how the following conditions influence how the global drivers of land use change translate into different LAIs and different impacts on the ground: labor intensity, prior land use, utilization of land, farm size, type of production, experience in local agriculture, land tenure security, accountability of state and local elites, the mobilization capacity of civil society, expansion of resource frontiers, agricultural intensification, and indirect land use change. The results indicate that commercial agriculture can be a component in sustainable development strategies under certain conditions, but that these strategies will fail without substantial, sustained increases in the economic viability and inclusiveness of smallholder agriculture, land tenure security, agro-ecological land management, and support for broader patterns of endogenous agrarian transformation.

Fewer Jobs and More Migrants: Large Scale Agricultural Investment and Internal Migration in Ethiopia:

Large scale agricultural investments offer huge potential in creating employment opportunities, which, in turn, are expected to cause substantial migration. In Ethiopia, whereas extant ample literature shows substantial in-migration of people triggered by employment opportunities in scattered commercial farms and plantations established from 1950s to 1970s in the Awash Valley and other areas of the country, the literature on the link between large scale commercial farms recently leased to investors and migration is very limited. Using cross-sectional survey, this paper analyzed this link in the context of Saudi Star and Merti Agricultural Development farms, respectively in Abobo and Merti woredas. Results show that 34.4% of the respondents were migrants overall (45.1% for Abobo and 23.5% for Merti). Proportionally, more migrants than non-migrants were working in the commercial farms. However, this proportion (of employed migrants) was lower when compared to the total number of migrant respondents, suggesting that more migrants were not employed in the farms. The association between employment in commercial farms and a respondent’s migration status in the regression analysis is positive. Although the association is only statistically weakly significant or not significant at all, these results may suggest that migration to employment areas is not necessarily informed by actual employment but rather by migrants’ expectations encouraged by lowered costs of migration, a result in line with existing literature regarding labor migration and employment.

Protection of local land use rights in the process of large-scale agricultural land acquisition in Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Land use rights are the basis for multidimensional aspects of the local people. In rural Ethiopia, the livelihood of the local people is strongly attached to land use rights. On the other hand, the government has been transferring or allocating huge tracts of land for large-scale agricultural investments through expropriation and the notion of free land doctrine. The role of rural land laws in the protection of local land use rights in the case of agricultural land acquisition has given little attention in research studies. The purpose of this article is to examine the contents of rural land laws in Ethiopia regarding the protection of local land use rights in the process of land acquisition for investment in agriculture. A doctrinal legal research method is employed to examine the protection of rural land use rights in the process of agricultural land acquisition. The author argues that rural land laws are weak in the protection of local land use rights in the process of land acquisition for investment in agriculture. The article recommends the need to have comprehensive and specific governing law that gives strong protection and guarantee for local land use rights in the process of agricultural investment land acquisition.

Land Grabbing and Smallholders in Ethiopia

Land grabbing is global issue affecting smallholder farmer’s livelihood. With the objective of evaluating the impact of large scale agricultural Investments on the livelihoods of rural communities, this paper uses literatures on land grabbing supplemented by data from FAOstat and tries to identify the root causes of land grabbing and driving forces behind the agricultural investment in the country. It tries to assess the problems created due to introduction of large scale agricultural investment by foreign companies and its consequences on local communities. The remedial measures that should be used by the government to tackle the problems created due to high demand for agricultural land acquisitions were discussed for alternative policy option. Keywords: Land grabbing, Agricultural investment, Smallholders DOI: 10.7176/JPID/56-02 Publication date: November 30 th 2020

Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Large-Scale Agricultural Investment in Ethiopia: An Analysis of the Disconnects between Expectation and Reality

This article examines whether expectations held by different stakeholders from Large-Scale Land Acquisition (LSLA) have been realized in Ethiopia. Data were collected from key informants working at different levels in government organizations in Benshanguel, Oromia and Gambella regional states. Primary data were collected from households directly affected by the two large-scale farms in Oromia and Benshanguel Gumuz regional states. The samples were selected using a systematic random sampling technique. The findings indicated that LSLA rarely met prior expectations and highlighted the difficulty in realizing a win-win situation.

The effect of large-scale agricultural investments on household food security in Madagascar

Large-scale agricultural investments in developing countries have escalated over the past decade. While much is written about the potential adverse effects of these acquisitions on local communities, there is a paucity of evidence of these impacts. This paper explores the effect of large-scale agribusinesses on household food security in two locations in Madagascar. One is plantation area or Location A and the other one is contract farming area or Location B. The sample of 601 households was classified into households (i) in which at least one member was employed or (ii) contracted to the agribusiness, (iii) in the same area that were neither employees nor contractors (non-engaged) and (iv) counterfactual households from another community. Employment opportunities from the agribusinesses seemed to improved food security. Dietary quality, food security and resilience were higher among employed households. Contract households were generally more food insecure than the counterfactual and non-engaged households. Living in the zone of influence did not seem to have major adverse effects on the food security of non-engaged households. However, female-headed households seemed disadvantaged in terms of access to employment and contracting opportunities. Unless attention is paid to women’s access to employment and contracting opportunities, inequality may be exacerbated.

Evidence-based investment selection: Prioritizing agricultural development investments under climatic and socio-political risk using Bayesian networks.

Agricultural development projects have a poor track record of success mainly due to risks and uncertainty involved in implementation. Cost-benefit analysis can help allocate resources more effectively, but scarcity of data and high uncertainty makes it difficult to use standard approaches. Bayesian Networks (BN) offer a suitable modelling technology for this domain as they can combine expert knowledge and data. This paper proposes a systematic methodology for creating a general BN model for evaluating agricultural development projects. Our approach adapts the BN model to specific projects by using systematic review of published evidence and relevant data repositories under the guidance of domain experts. We evaluate a large-scale agricultural investment in Africa to provide a proof of concept for this approach. The BN model provides decision support for project evaluation by predicting the value—measured as net present value and return on investment—of the project under different risk scenarios.