1. REILA Responsible & Innovative Land Administration Equity and Efficiency of Registering Land Tenure Rights in Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Ethiopia Shewakena Aytensifu & David Harris Niras-Finland & Orgut-Sweden World Bank Land & Poverty Conference Washington, DC 25 th March 2015

2. REILA PROJECT 2011-16 1. REILA = Responsible & Innovative Land Administration 2. Start July 2011 - Finish July 2016 3. Now in year 4 of 5 4. Budget 13,700,000 Euro 5. Funding by Governments of Finland & Ethiopia 6. Federal level, Benishangul-Gumuz & Amhara Regions

3. ETHIOPIA

4. BENISHANGUL-GUMUZ REGION

5. Most of Benishangul-Gumuz is a lowland Region, to the west of the core Ethiopian highlands B-G is split by the Abay River (Blue Nile), which has only one bridge crossing within the Region Administratively there are three zones: Metekel zone to the north of the Abay, and Assosa and Kamashi zones to the south The Zones are divided into 20 Woredas, and the Woredas are divided into 450 rural Kebeles The administrative centre of B-G is Assosa in the south-west, which is 660 kms west of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa

6. B-G ADMINISTRATIVE AREAS WOREDAS

7. REILA IMAGERY TRIALS Trials in Oromiya, SNNP & Tigray completed in 2013 Dembecha in Amhara – February 2013 ongoing Bambasi in B-G – June to November 2013 Bullen in B-G – January to July 2014 Belo Jiganfoy in B-G – April 2014 ongoing Scale-up in five B-G Woredas in 2015

8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

9. LAND REGISTRATION WOREDAS 2 4 3 5 1

10. Field map: Bullen Woreda

11. B-G RURAL LAND ISSUES Benishangul-Gumuz lowland rural areas differ from the Ethiopian highlands: 1. Indigenous & Settler groups 2. Established settlers & Recent settlers 3. Tenants & ‘Use Right holders’ 4. Formal & informal land holdings 5. Fixed & Shifting cultivation 6. Smallholder farmers & Investor farmers

12. B-G ETHNIC GROUPS ETHNIC GROUPINDIGENOUSPOPULATION% BertaYES199,224 25.4 GumuzYES163,928 20.9 ShinashaYES60,395 7.7 MaoYES14,748 1.9 KomoYES7,481 1.0 Amhara 170,203 21.7 Oromo 106,671 13.6 Agaw-Awi 32,942 4.2 Other 28,753 3.6 784,345 100%

13. RURAL LAND LEGISLATION 1. Detailed rural land directives enacted 2014 - implementation being planned 2. 10 hectare land limit per household in lowland areas – 5 ha in highland areas 3. Polygamous households: 5 ha more per additional wife 4. Investors can lease more land than 10 ha 5. Maximum of 50% of a farmer’s land can be rented out

14. Field map: Bambasi Woreda

15. CRITICAL ACTIONS 1. Formalising rural land holdings – by systematic demarcation & adjudication 2. Pragmatic implementation of new rural land legislation 3. Registering investor holdings 4. Protecting smallholder farmers from investor encroachment 5. Equity v Efficiency – legality & fairness v speed & economy

16. Baby Reila

17. REILA Responsible & Innovative Land Administration Equity and Efficiency of Registering Land Tenure Rights in Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Ethiopia Shewakena Aytensifu & David Harris Niras-Finland & Orgut-Sweden World Bank Land & Poverty Conference Washington, DC 25 th March 2015