Impacts Of Land Resdistribution On Land Management And Productivity In The Ethiopian Highlands

The increasing problem of landlessness in Ethiopia has put pressure on regional governments to redistribute land. In 1997 and 1998, a major land redistribution was undertaken in the Amhara region, reducing landlessness where implemented. While the impacts of such redistributions have been hotly debated, little empirical evidence exists concerning the actual impacts of this redistribution. We find that the recent land redistribution in Amhara has had a positive impact on land productivity, by increasing access to land of farmers who are more interested or able to use purchased inputs such as fertilizer and improved seeds. Our results, however, do not show much effect of the recent land redistribution or expectations of future redistribution on land improvement and management. Thus, to the extent that investment in land improvement are necessary for conservation purposes, it appears that the policy change to stop redistributions is unlikely to have a substantial impact on reducing land degradation in this region of Ethiopia.