Introducing LR as an Alternative Land
Development Tool for
Peri-Urban Areas of Ethiopia
Achamyeleh Gashu Adam(PhD)
Institute of Land Administration, Bahir Dar
University
2016 World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty
The World Bank - Washington DC, March 14- 18, 2016
1. Background of the study
• Ethiopia is a Federal republic which has been
experiencing a very fast rate of urban expansion
• Most of large urban centers are expected to grow
more than four times by 2040 (UN-Habitat, 2010)
• As a result of the rural-urban dichotomy of land
holding systems, urban expansion in Ethiopia involves
largely/solely peri-urban land expropriation
– Expropriation is the only way of trading between the
dichotomized urban lease holding and rural holding/
usufruct tenure systems in the process of urban expansion.
Land Tenure
Arrangement in
Ethiopia
Fig1: Urban land acquisition and delivery process in
Ethiopia
2. Urban Expansion and its pitfalls:
Empirical evidences
• Rapid rate of urbanization in Ethiopia is
accompanied by the unpleasant urban
development practices in the peri-urban areas
• All forms of lively competitions for land by
people of diverse backgrounds
• As urban territory extends into the adjacent
peri-urban areas, the landholding rights of local
peri-urban landholders is expected to be
automatically canceled and transferred to the
people who can afford to pay for land lease.
Cont….
• The use right of the local peri-urban landholders which is
supposed to be exercised for lifetime can be canceled at
any time
• As a result, widespread sense of tenure insecurity,
– Questionnaire survey shows that about 94% of the
local peri-urban landholders in one way or the other
feel insecure for their land right. They expect that
their land would be taken by city administration at
any time
Cont……
• Inability to make a direct involvement and
negotiation with the affected landholders
• Most of the time land acquisition (expropriation)
measures :
– without persuading the local peri-urban landholders
– Non existence of reaching consensus
– As a result expropriation decisions are highly resisted
and objected by the majority of local landholders
Cont….
• Another pressing challenge in peri-urban areas is the
proliferation of informal settlement areas.
– The expectation of peri-urban local landholders that
their land shall be taken by urban administration
compulsorily
– the inefficiency to provide affordable houses to the
low-income people in the inner-city
• Peri-urban landholders (farmers) are largely involved
in subdividing and selling of their land illegally to
urban speculators and urban poor
Cont…
• Sample peri-urban landholders were also asked to reflect
their preference in the type of compensation they would opt
for
• Majority of the respondents would like to have either landto-land compensation or keeping reasonable portion of land
within the urban boundary.
– about 91% of sample respondents do not want to have
cash compensation.
– they want to preserve their land rights rather than just
only receiving cash compensation which later on
displaces them from the locality.
– they want to transfer their land to their sons and
daughters as they have received it from their parents.
Cont……
• Based on the review of country experiences
and analysis of the existing peri-urban land
development challenges, an adapted and
modified form of land readjustment is
proposed as a solution to the existing periurban land development problems
– desk review research approach
– questionnaire survey results from the case study area
– Focus group discussion (FGD) with urban and rural land
administration and delivery and planning experts
Cont…..
• The experts have reflected their views on the
limitations of the existing land acquisition
procedure from peri-urban areas for urban
development purposes
• They have also reflected their views on what ought
to be in the process of peri-urban land
development.
• The study also explains why this alternative
approach of land acquisition is needed to be
introduced for peri-urban areas in Ethiopia instead
of the existing conventional method.
3. Review of Country experiences
and Literatures on LR
• The reviews of the country experiences and
existing literatures on LR show that:
– It is primarily built on direct involvement and
participation of all landowners
– Consensual/voluntary contribution of land
– Fair distribution of development benefits and costs
between landowners and municipalities (Hong, 2007).
– It is a win-win approach because it allows former
landowners/landholders to improve their living
conditions and tenure security, and it enables the city
to obtain much land for urban expansion voluntarily
(Hong and Brain, 2012).
4. Introducing LR as Alternative Approach
• Urban expansion programs have been
precipitating a wave of dispossession and
displacement of local peri-urban landholders
• As a solution to this unpleasant situation, an
adapted form of land readjustment is
suggested to be introduced in the Ethiopian
land development system.
Fig: An adapted land readjustment Model for periurban areas of Ethiopia
Why LR for peri-urban areas of Ethiopia?
a)It is Participatory and negotiable
• Participatory and consensual urbanization through
continuous negotiations
– helps to bring municipal authority officials and periurban landholders in person and balance power
relations between the two
• Negotiation is also the way to create awareness about
the ongoing urbanization and transformation
• One of the risks of taking land compulsorily and paying
cash compensation to peri-urban landholders is that it is
easy for them to lose their money through reckless
spending or inappropriate investments
Cont…..
b) It protects and preserves land rights of the local
peri-urban community
• LR can serve as a means to convert peri-urban
landholders’ land right to urban land right which in
turn promotes sense of tenure security
• It is also a fair solution to minimize loss of livelihood
security and community disruption.
• Therefore, the possibility to apply land readjustment
as a land development tool means that the land rights
of local peri-urban landholders in the peri-urban areas
are better understood and recognized.
Cont….
c) It minimizes illegal land transaction:
• Informal land transaction is one of the pressing
challenges in the peri-urban areas of Ethiopia
• Local landholders/farmers themselves are principal
actors in the process
– Illegal subdivision and selling
– Construction of unauthorized houses
• Their expectation and previous experiences show that
their land will be expropriated sooner or later and their
previous experiences also show that they will be either
relocated to far-off places or given minimal
compensation
Cont………..
• It has the potential to create confidence on local
landholders /farmers that they can have a plot of urban
land when their land is included into urban territory.
• Creates a chance to share development benefits or the
increased value of the land after its conversion from
farming fields to urban building plots rather than
receiving cash compensation calculated to the current
agricultural value
• With this understanding, the landholders in the periurban areas, certainly, would not prefer to sell their
agricultural land informally.
Conclusion
• Finally, this study has proved that introducing LR
can generates more desirable urban development
and urbanization
• This study is also intended to serve as an initial
document for further dialogue and research on
how to implement
Thank you !!!