Mereja Forum

[Axumezana]

- The Pre- Derg land ownership basic problem were:

- In the Northern Ethiopia it was a source of endless and time consuming conflict as the stronger feuduals were forcefully taking land from the poor by force or through the corrupted justice system at the expense of the poor. As result few feudals were controlling the majority of the fertile land while poor farmers were left with unviable smaller and unproductive land
- In the Southern Ethiopia land was allocated to individuals( feudals) by the king or his subordinates mainly as a reward to loyalty. The sad part of it was the farmers that were settled on the land ( the real owners), were treated as untouchable by the feudals and subjected to exploitation and mistreatment with no legal right. Though Derg was generally right to confiscate the land and distribute it to the poor farmers, it made itself the monopoly owner of the land, which gave him a controlling tool over the people.

Post- Derg land ownership problems:

TPLF/EPRDF continued with the Derg ownership policy and it also came with a controversial land lease policy that has been practiced until today.
The existing land policy has resulted in one corrupted monopoly land supplier (the government that replaced the feudals) that has been leasing land at an artificially high lease rate and in a corrupted way while providing very low compensation to the real owners of the land and forcefully removing them , with no legal right on their land( similar to the fedual system). on the other side, it has also encouraged farmers to stay, in their comfort zone, as life-time subsistence farmers with limited economic growth potential and vulnerable to famine

Therefore, it is high time the Abiy government considers democratization and liberalization of land ownership and allow land private owners (farmers or urban dwellers) to sell their land-based on market value. The government shall be limited to regulation and sales tax collection. This policy change will enable establishment of irrigated and commercialized big farms that will radically transform agricultural productivity, supports rapid industrialization and generation of hug foreign currency for the country and minimizes corruption( most of corruption in Ethiopia is land related). land ownership structural change coupled with constitutional change and restructuring of the local states may also reduce prevailing land/ boundary related conflicts

[Axumezana]

I wish policy issues were discussed at this time instead of war, unfortunately that is the reality!