Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Land Use Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/landusepol Policies and praxis of land acquisition, use, and development in Ethiopia Mulatu Wubneh ⁎ East Carolina University, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, East Carolina University, Brewster Building A213, Greenville, NC 27858, USA ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Ethiopia’s land use policy the legal basis of land ownership Air-to-air land transaction Urban land use and land lease Rural land use Land expropriation and compensation ABSTRACT Ethiopia is one of the few African countries that have implemented a revolutionary land reform program that still retains the relics of the socialist ideology, specifically, the state ownership of land. Since 1975, the country has undergone a major transformation in implementing land reform policies and other major economic programs that have contributed to the development of an unsustainable land use structure that has become a burden on the national economy. The purpose of this research is to examine the current land use system in the context of the various policies and programs of the government. The analysis reveals that the land use system in Ethiopia is riddled with a host of problems including insecurity of tenure, fragmentation and diminution of farm sizes, corruption associated with land stocking by individuals and corporations with strong political ties, the dis- placement of farmers and poor urban residents, and the issue of expropriation and unfair compensation for land taken from land owners. The study recommends major reform programs related to right of ownership, land confiscation and compensation, institutional capacity building, protection of prime agricultural land and local environment, and addressing problems of land grabbing and land banking. 1. Introduction Ethiopia is one of the few African countries that have implemented a revolutionary land reform program that still retains the relics of the socialist ideology, specifically, the state ownership of land. In the last four decades, the country has undergone a major transformation in implementing land reform policies and other major economic pro- grams. In 1975, Ethiopia adopted a political system that was bent on developing a politico-economic structure based on socialist principles, and in 1991, the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the current ruling government, took power and started to implement major land reform programs that parallel many of the po- licies of the socialist government that preceded it, namely the Derg. The EPRDF maintains that Ethiopia is a ‘developmental state’, and the government is pursuing a policy of transforming the current economic system with the objective of catapulting the country to a middle-income country status by 2030. It has set some lofty economic goals including achieving a sustainable economic growth, enhancing the role of agri- culture in the economic sector, expanding the provision of quality in- frastructure and fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by the end of the plan period (FDRE, 2010). While these lofty aspirations are welcome, the government’s inflexible land policies and its re- luctance to modify the existing land holding system are creating a major burden on the national economy. The various land policies and programs of the government have contributed to insecurity of tenure, ambiguities in ownership of land, shortage of land to accommodate young families, fragmentation and diminution of farm sizes, displace- ment of poor farmers to give land to corporate farms and urban ex- pansion, and dislocation of poor urban residents to give way to in- vestors. Land ownership rights in Ethiopia are defined in the 1995 Constitution, which states that land is owned by the Peoples of Ethiopia (defined as Nations and Nationalities of Ethiopia) and individuals have the right to free usage of land, protection from eviction, and the right to be compensated in case of expropriation (FDRE, 1995). 1 However, by not granting free holding of land with the rights of exclusivity and transferability, the land ownership system still retains the vestiges of the socialist system of the Derg era. The policies and practices of land management including state ownership of land, the lease system, ex- propriation and compensation practices parallel the land use and management systems of China. Although the constitution has defined the basic rights to use land, the landholding system in Ethiopia has become so complex that there is a growing feeling of uncertainty among landowners and investors. This problem is related to ambiguities in land use legislations and the sys- tem’s failure to guarantee the core property rights associated with land https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.01.017 Received 17 February 2017; Received in revised form 10 January 2018; Accepted 10 January 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: Wubnehm@ecu.edu. 1 Citations for the federal legislation including the constitution referenced in this study are included under Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE). Regional legislation are indicated at the end of the reference section. Land Use Policy 73 (2018) 170–183 0264-8377/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T