Unleashing the Political Economy of Land Expropriation in Ethiopia, beyond the Rhetoric: Flower Farms’ in Amhara Region in Focus

Abstract

The recognition of commercial agricultural investment unfolded the allocation of land to investors for the production of different cash and food crops in Ethiopia. But anti-expropriation voices and subsequent vandalizing of investment sites have been mushroomed and become far reminder occasions in Ethiopia. This study, thus, tried to uncover the Political-Economy of land expropriation in Ethiopia: a focus on flower farms in Amhara region. A mixed research design was employed by involving primary and secondary sources of data gathered via interview, focused group discussion, questionnaire and document review. Then, the data were presented, analyzed and interpreted through statistics-by-themes and side-by-side jointly. In the study, land expropriation was carried out without genuine public consultation, ascertaining popular consent and written notification. And, compensation was paid to evictees albeit the valuation process was full of uncertainty and jumping. Moreover, flower farms have negatively affected the livelihood and food security of peasants, which in turn brought violence, tenure insecurity and strained government-society relations. This indicated that the expansion of commercial farming was not made vis-à-vis empowering the displaced people. Thus, evictees should be part of the development process for the sustainability and success of farms.