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The promotion of commercialized and mechanized agriculture is considered as one possible contribution to the further economic development efforts in Ethiopia. In addition to the traditional farming sector, which is predominantly characterized by smallholders and subsistence farming, large-scale agricultural investments are expected to provide input for the processing industry, bring foreign currency as well as technology transfer to the country. Furthermore, it is presumed that the local communities would benefit from employment and infrastructure improvements related to these investments.
However, even though on the first glance Ethiopia still has virtually untouched areas, land for agricultural purposes is a scarce resource. Due to the growing population and ongoing environmental changes, the availability of land will be even more limited in the near future. Hence, the allocation of new land for large-scale farming activities always has to take the different existing and possible future land uses into account.
From the beginning of land allocation efforts onwards, it has always been a declared political objective not to expand the large-scale farming activities at the costs of land used by small peasants. Yet, the reallocation of land for (large scale) farming can also have other negative impacts on the local population and the environment. Furthermore, it can also hamper the possibility to use the land in a more benefitting way taking into account the general public interest.
The objective of the present guideline is to describe a model process of a comprehensive land identification and verification approach. By demonstrating a model process, it illustrates all necessary elements to carry out a comprehensive and sustainable land allocation process and describes the interrelation between the different agricultural and non-agricultural aspects.