Common property resources1 are important sources of timber, fuelwood, and grazing land in developing countries. When community members have unrestricted access to the resource, or when use regulations are ineffective, these resources are exploited on a first-come, first-served basis. Each…

Low agricultural productivity, poverty, and land degradation are critical and closely related problems in the Ethiopian highlands. These problems are particularly severe in the highlands of Tigray in northern Ethiopia. Cereal yields average less than 1 ton per hectare in this region, and over…

Numerous methods are available for increasing crop and livestock production in the Ethiopian highlands. Both national and international research institutes have developed technologies that are technically appropriate for these conditions. Examples of such technologies are the broad-bed maker for…

Increasing agricultural productivity is an important challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Since the 1960s, agricultural production in SSA has failed to keep up with population growth. The situation is severe in Ethiopia, particularly in the highland areas, where agriculture is primarily rain…

Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, and its population of more than 70 million people lives mostly in the highlands. The food security of these people is threatened by land degradation and droughts that cause declining and highly variable land productivity. Changes in the…

Many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa suffer from problems related to poverty, natural resource degradation, and the complex interactions between these phenomena (Cleaver and Schreiber 1994). In the northern Ethiopian highlands of Tigray region, problems of poverty and degradation are extremely…

This chapter focuses on the management of agricultural land by smallholder households in the highlands of Kenya. It draws mainly from several recent studies from the central highland areas near to the south and west of Mt. Kenya and the western highland areas to the north and west of Kisumu,…

Livestock have diverse functions for the livelihood of farmers in mixed croplivestock systems in the highlands of East Africa. Livestock provide food in the form of meat and milk, nonfood items such as draft power, manure, and transport services as inputs into food crop production, and fuel for…

Land degradation is a severe problem in the densely populated highlands of East Africa and elsewhere on the African continent. Soil erosion resulting from cultivation on steeply sloping terrain, mining of soil fertility due to continuous cultivation with limited application of inorganic or…

This book includes a series of studies of income strategies, land use, and agricultural dynamics and their impacts on welfare and natural resources in the highlands of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. There are several reasons for focusing on the highlands. First, the complex problems of severe…

In the recent past, the image of agricultural and environmental crises in Sub- Saharan Africa (SSA) has become increasingly common. Soil erosion and soil fertility loss are considered to be negatively affecting the productive capacity of the agricultural systems (Giller et al. 1997; Sanchez et…

By Samuel Gebreselassie
Land and land tenure is a hot policy issue in Ethiopia. Three key issues are raised – farm size and fragmentation and the question of what is a ‘viable’ farm unit; tenure security and whether lack of land registration/certification or titling undermines investment…