Removing Limitations of Current Ethiopian Rural Land Policy and Land Administration Paper Presented at the Workshop on Land Policies and Legal Empowerment of the Poor, The World Bank, 2-3 November 2006, Washington DC Solomon Bekure, Abebe Mulatu, Gizachew Abebe, Michael Roth

Approach 1.Situational Assessment (Jan-Feb 2004) Ethiopia Land Policy and Administration Assessment (May 2004) 3.Design Team (January to May 2005 Design Strengthening Ethiopia Land Tenure and Administration Program (LTAP) 2.Contract Awarded for Design Proposal (November 2004) Ethiopia: Strengthening Land Tenure Policy and Administration Program (LTPAP)

Limitations The Derg (Military Regime) Abolished all customary land rights making all land the property of the state. Transfers were severely curtailed only to inheritance. Renting use rights of land and sharecropping were prohibited Rural Land Administration placed in the hands of Peasant Associations with Power to redistribute lands Inheritance and frequent land redistribution frequently led to small land size holding and heightened tenure insecurity

Rural Land Policy under the EPRDF Regime ( ) Same policy of state ownership enshrined in the the 1994 State Constitution Rural Land Proclamation: Land can be leased and bequeathed Land rights cannot be sold or used as collateral Private property improvements can be sold or exchanged Power to administer land vested in the regional states Rural land laws imposed significant conditionalities on rental arrangements. Inheritance and land redistribution continued to undermine Tenure Security Any adult over the age of 18 is entitled to land free of charge for farming

Land Titling and Administration (Constraints) Parcels are not always given a unique ID number Current exercise is only recording rights for the present without anticipating future updating needs Errors committed due to inadequate adjudication by demarcation teams Subdivisions or exchanges are not being referenced to the original entry Land records are not being updated (Tigray) Records are not being safely stored for protection against fire, pest and climate Duplicate land records are not always being kept Highly scientific measurements are being used that while good for accuracy are slow and expensive Wide Regional Variations!!!

LTAP’s Objective Assist the Government of Ethiopia (GOE) with the design and implementation of a sound land certification system that provides robust and enforceable land tenure security in land and related natural resources in the four regional states of Amhara, Oromia, SNNP and Tigray

Learning Model

Ethiopia Map Shaded area represents program supported regions where the LTAP will prioritize and focus its interventions

Technical Areas of Support 1.Harmonization of Rural Land Laws 2.Standardization of Rural Land Registration Procedures and Castral Surveying Methodologies 3.Removing Limitations on Rural Land Policy 4.Public Information and Awareness 5.Rights Protection 6.Commissioned Studies to Inform Policy

Comparison of Cost of rural cadastral surveying technologies No.MethodCost in Birr/ha Application 1.Rope only13.00Most rural areas 2.Rope & HH GPS centroid reading 15.70Most rural areas 3.Hand-Held (HH) GPS corners reading 80.40Most rural areas 4.Compass/Tape*291.80Inappropriate for all areas 5. Total Station High potential areas: - peri-urban, irrigation - resettlement, compensation; - commercial farming - investment purposes, etc. 6.IKONOS high resolution satellite data** Applicable for all areas if cost contained 7.DGPS (not in EMA study)* High potential areas as in Total Station

Current Status? Progress with Legal Harmonization Also Progress with Standardization of Rural Land Administration However, broad stakeholder participation in decision making remains weak Land Policy at a National Level is off-limits Little progress yet made with issues of gender and land dispute resolution