IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v12y2023i9p1702-d1229139.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Collective Resource Management and Labor Quota Systems for Sustainable Natural Resource Management in Semi-Arid Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • Shiro Mukai

    (Independent Researcher, 1-2-3 Kakinokizaka, Megoro-ku, Tokyo 152-0022, Japan)

Abstract

Since the mid-1970s, natural resource management package programs have been implemented mainly in the northern Ethiopian Highlands (Amhara and Tigray regions), providing participants with food-for-work (FFW) supported by donor agencies. Meanwhile, the government has sporadically implemented such programs in the Ethiopian Lowlands, including the semi-arid Ethiopian Rift Valley (the study area). Local villagers took the initiative to manage various natural and life resources. In this study, the following factors were determined: (i) the type of village organization that manages common-pool resources (CPRs) and controls collective work, and (ii) the kind of institutional arrangements that should be implemented in participatory CPR management and small-scale village infrastructure development programs. These issues were investigated using mixed methods research, combining multivariate analyses, interviews, and field observation. The analyses were compared specifically with advanced participatory CPR management in Tigray, northern semi-arid Ethiopia. Tigray has an indigenous labor quota system ( baito ) and a collective grazing land management system ( hizati ) at the hamlet ( qushet ) level. Since 1991, the Tigray government has incorporated hamlets into the local administration system and supplied FFW and other incentives to participants with a high participation rate in the baito collective work. Those institutional arrangements helped reduce soil erosion rates and restore grass and tree biomass in the area. In the study area, user groups and youth and women’s associations were (and still are) institutionally fragile CPR organizations (e.g., no bylaws). In contrast, an iddir is a robust CPR organization at the hamlet ( gott ) level having a labor quota system ( iddir system) and funds. The requirements for sustainable participatory rural development in the two regions of semi-arid Ethiopia are, first, to institutionalize a local administration system that links the district, village, and hamlet; and second, to use various incentives provided by donor agencies to strengthen their indigenous labor quota systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Shiro Mukai, 2023. "Collective Resource Management and Labor Quota Systems for Sustainable Natural Resource Management in Semi-Arid Ethiopia," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-31, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:9:p:1702-:d:1229139
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/9/1702/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/9/1702/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shiferaw, Bekele & Holden, Stein, 1999. "Soil Erosion and Smallholders' Conservation Decisions in the Highlands of Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 739-752, April.
    2. Tsedeke Abate & Bekele Shiferaw & Abebe Menkir & Dagne Wegary & Yilma Kebede & Kindie Tesfaye & Menale Kassie & Gezahegn Bogale & Berhanu Tadesse & Tolera Keno, 2015. "Factors that transformed maize productivity in Ethiopia," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 7(5), pages 965-981, October.
    3. Gebremedhin, Berhanu & Pender, John & Tesfay, Girmay, 2004. "Collective action for grazing land management in crop-livestock mixed systems in the highlands of northern Ethiopia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 273-290, December.
    4. Hoben, Allan, 1995. "Paradigms and politics: The cultural construction of environmental policy in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1007-1021, June.
    5. Samuel Assefa & Aad Kessler & Luuk Fleskens, 2018. "Assessing Farmers’ Willingness to Participate in Campaign-Based Watershed Management: Experiences from Boset District, Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-15, November.
    6. Bereket Araya & John Asafu‐Adjaye, 1999. "Returns to Farm‐Level Soil Conservation on Tropical Steep Slopes: The Case of the Eritrean Highlands," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 589-605, September.
    7. Damania, Richard & Hatch, John, 2005. "Protecting Eden: markets or government?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 339-351, May.
    8. Elizabeth Harrison, 2002. "‘The Problem with the Locals’: Partnership and Participation in Ethiopia," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 33(4), pages 587-610, September.
    9. Asenso-Okyere, Kwadwo & Kumasi, Tyhra Carolyn, 2011. "Responding to land degradation in the highlands of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia:," IFPRI discussion papers 1142, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Haftu Etsay & Shunji Oniki & Melaku Berhe & Teklay Negash, 2022. "The Watershed Communal Land Management and Livelihood of Rural Households in Kilte Awlaelo Woreda, Tigray Region, Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-19, October.
    2. Moreda, Tsegaye, 2018. "Contesting conventional wisdom on the links between land tenure security and land degradation: Evidence from Ethiopia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 75-83.
    3. Kahsay, Goytom Abraha & Kassie, Workineh Asmare & Beyene, Abebe Damte & Hansen, Lars Gårn, 2022. "Pro-environmental behavior under bundled environmental and poverty reduction goals: Empirical evidence from Ethiopia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    4. World Bank, 2007. "Determinants of the Adoption of Sustainable Land Management Practices and Their Impacts in the Ethiopian Highlands," World Bank Publications - Reports 7938, The World Bank Group.
    5. Yami, M. & Mekuria, Wolde, 2022. "Challenges in the governance of community-managed forests in Ethiopia: review," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 1-14(3):147.
    6. Smit, Hermen & Muche, Rahel & Ahlers, Rhodante & van der Zaag, Pieter, 2017. "The Political Morphology of Drainage—How Gully Formation Links to State Formation in the Choke Mountains of Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 231-244.
    7. Piers Blaikie, 2000. "Development, Post-, Anti-, and Populist: A Critical Review," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 32(6), pages 1033-1050, June.
    8. Giuseppe Maggio & Marina Mastrorillo & Nicholas J. Sitko, 2022. "Adapting to High Temperatures: Effect of Farm Practices and Their Adoption Duration on Total Value of Crop Production in Uganda," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(1), pages 385-403, January.
    9. Okumu, Boscow & Muchapondwa, Edwin, 2017. "Determinants of Successful Collective Management of Forest Resources: Evidence from Kenyan Community Forest Associations," EfD Discussion Paper 17-11, Environment for Development, University of Gothenburg.
    10. Ersado, Lire, 2005. "Small-scale irrigation dams, agricultural production, and health - theory and evidence from Ethiopia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3494, The World Bank.
    11. Daniel Ayalew Ali & Stefan Dercon & Madhur Gautam, 2011. "Property rights in a very poor country: tenure insecurity and investment in Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 42(1), pages 75-86, January.
    12. Cordonnier, Victor & Covarrubias, Katia Alejandra & de la O Campos, Ana Paula, 2024. "The impacts of widespread agricultural interventions on yields and food security in Ethiopia☆," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    13. Shiferaw, Bekele & Holden, Stein T., 2000. "Policy instruments for sustainable land management: the case of highland smallholders in Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 217-232, April.
    14. Lai, Lawrence W.C. & Chau, K.W & Lorne, Frank T, 2019. "“Forgetting by not doing”: An institutional memory inquiry of forward planning for land production by reclamation," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 796-806.
    15. Gerichhausen, M. & Berkhout, E.D. & Hamers, H.J.M. & Manyong, V.M., 2009. "A quantitative framework to analyse cooperation between rural households," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 173-185, July.
    16. Mesay Yami & Ferdi Meyer & Rashid Hassan, 2020. "The impact of production shocks on maize markets in Ethiopia: implications for regional trade and food security," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-25, December.
    17. Berhane, Guush & Abate, Gashaw T. & Wolle, Abdulazize, 2021. "Agricultural Intensification in Ethiopia: Trends and Welfare Impacts," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315313, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Okumu, Boscow & Muchapondwa, Edwin, 2020. "Determinants of successful collective management of forest resources: Evidence from Kenyan Community Forest Associations," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    19. Yonas Alem & Mathilde Maurel & Katrin Millock, 2016. "Migration as an Adaptation Strategy to Weather Variability: An Instrumental Variables Probit Analysis," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-01955941, HAL.
    20. Giller, Ken E. & Andersson, Jens & Delaune, Thomas & Silva, João Vasco & Descheemaeker, Katrien & van de Ven, Gerrie & Schut, Antonius G.T. & van Wijk, Mark & Hammond, Jim & Hochman, Zvi & Taulya, God, 2022. "IFAD Research Series 83: The future of farming: who will produce our food?," IFAD Research Series 322005, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:9:p:1702-:d:1229139. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.