Challenges for Sustainable Rural Development in Ethiopia
Rural Ethiopia contains 80% of the country’s population, nearly all of whom are small-scale peasants living on small agricultural farms in the highland parts of the country. Yet, farm sizes are less than one hectare per household, and livestock numbers considerable, but insufficient to provide a labour force to plough the land. Farm productivity is at a minimum, and land degradation due to agricultural practices is widespread.
A major strength is the strong sense of identity in rural Ethiopia. This strength of identity, however, is also a weakness in terms of future development. The younger generation has a different idea of identity than their ancestors. Most critical, however, is that elements of rural identity have been carried into politics and policies concerned with development, by people who grew up in rural areas and maintain their old identities.
Modern development in rural Ethiopia follows practices brought in mainly from outside, but which have been adapted to local conditions and underpinned by the values of traditional rural Ethiopia. As a consequence, the emphasis in development is on infrastructure and the maintenance of natural resources. Although agriculture has the potential to increase productivity considerably, this cannot take place within the present context of rural household economies.
However, modern development alone is not enough to bring about sustainable development. The agricultural workforce needs to be diversified, from primary sector jobs to secondary and tertiary sector employment. Rural areas need fundamental reforms in land use practices, technologies and organisation of labour and rural space. Sustainable use of natural resources needs to become the basis of all agricultural activity in rural areas.
The challenges for developing rural Ethiopia lie in an overall increase in
productivity in all sectors of the rural area. Sustainable land management must become the basis of agricultural activity. Policies addressing rural-urban linkages, land tenure issues, and questions of demographic transition, as well as issues of education and health, can help accelerate this change. A sectoral transition from the dominance of the primary sector to more emphasis on the secondary and tertiary sectors can bring about change, although with a risk of social and public security. New identities may be formed during this transition, moving from traditional rural Ethiopia to association with a modern, interlinked rural-urban landscape.
Profile of Speaker – Prof. Dr. phil. nat. Hans Hurni
Hans Hurni is director of the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) and professor at the Institute of Geography, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Bern, Switzerland.
He is also director of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research North-South; editor-in-chief of the journal Mountain Research and Development; coordinator of the Global Mountain Partnership Programme of the United Nations University; responsible for activities mandated by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; teaching and supervision of postgraduate students; and is past President of the Swiss Commission for Research Partnerships with Developing Countries.
Hurni’s thematic focus is natural resource management and ecology; syndrome mitigation; sustainable development appraisal; development of multi-level stakeholder approaches; soil erosion process assessments; soil and water conservation experimentation; nature conservation; inter- and transdisciplinary research, and methodological developments in these fields.
This presentation draws on Hurni’s observations and field experiences, particularly in rural Ethiopia over the past 30 years. It includes his own research on rural case studies in eight locations, and experimental watersheds that were monitored and studied over a period of more than 25 years.