Fekadu Beyene Kenee’s research while affiliated with Haramaya University and other places

Coffee is one of the most important agricultural commodities with significant contributions to the growth and well-functioning of Ethiopia’s economy, and the social stability of the country (Alemseged, 2012). Despite its importance, the performance of the sector has been unsatisfactory due to various production- and marketing-related factors. This study was thus conducted with the objective of identifying the factors influencing the choices of marketing channels for selling dry-processed or red coffee cherries. Cross-sectional survey data were collected from 377 sample farmers selected from Gomma and Limmu Kossa districts of Jimma zone in southwestern Ethiopia through a multistage stratified simple random sampling technique. The data were collected from October 2019 to January 2020 after pretesting the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and a multivariate probit (MVP) econometric model were used to analyse the data. The results obtained from separate MVP regression model analyses reveal that sex, coffee land size and productivity, average dry-processed coffee selling price, frequency of visits by the DA, cooperative membership, access to credit, training, off- and non-farm income sources, and distance to cooperatives’ and private traders’ marketing centers influenced the choices of local consumers, traders or cooperatives for selling dry-processed or red coffee cherries. The findings suggest that farmers should be provided with coffee production- and productivity-enhancing technologies that could increase yield and productivity and the marketed supply of coffee. Moreover, farmers should be provided with information regarding the importance of cooperatives and training on ways to improve coffee production and productivity. Finally, cooperatives should incorporate credit schemes at peak coffee production and during the marketing season so that members prefer to supply their coffee to the cooperatives and earn better coffee income at the end.

The study examined contract farming participation intensity determinants among small-scale malt barley farmers in the Arsi Highlands, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Data was gathered from 384 sample respondents using a multistage sampling procedure. Age, livestock ownership, crop output, price, advice service, cooperative membership, and credit were found to be major determinants of probability of contract farming participation. However, total land size and farming experience negatively determined the likelihood of participation in contract farming. The contract participation intensity was defined by educational level, landholding size, production selling price, amount of fertilizer applied, and off-farm income. It is discovered that smallholder producers of malt barley are increasingly drawn to contract farming. It is anticipated that the trend will continue, bringing about more awareness of the advantages of contract farming as well as better access to and utilization of agricultural input supplies.

Four theories are used to explain the causes and dynamics of violent conflict along the Oromia–Somali Border in eastern Ethiopia. Of these, political economy (greed versus grievance) and political ecology theories are instrumental in understanding the main drivers of violence. Politicization of ethnicity and the self-centered behavior of political elites have increased the complexity of the conflict. Fekadu Kenee demonstrates that peacebuilding efforts require respect for the outcomes of referendums on the disputed territorial units and revitalization of customary systems, among others. While customary institutions can resolve conflicts at least temporarily, sustained community dialogue needs to be part of the political reform to build lasting inter-regional peace.

This study aimed to examine women’s sanitation access and utilization level and their determinants in some selected rural areas of East Gojjam Zone. The research employed cross sectional study design and data was collected from 380 women selected through multistage cluster sampling technique. Proportional odds model and partial proportional odds model were used to estimate the association between different factors and women’s sanitation access and utilization level. The result indicated that out of 380 sampled women, about 42.6% have high sanitation access compared with 34.7% medium and 22.6% low respectively. Despite this however; about 50.9% respondents have low sanitation utilization suggesting a mismatch between sanitation access at household level and women’s utilization status. Household size, access to sanitation facilities, and knowledge about the benefit of latrine utilization were found to be statistically significant determinants of women’s sanitation utilization while marital status, district, household income, participation in women health development team, and dependency ratio were found to be determinants of sanitation access. The study suggests that besides promotions to increase sanitation facility availability, monitoring on the utilization of the facilities need to be strengthened. Income creation capacity of women and their households should be strengthened as well.

This paper identifies factors affecting perception of soil erosion, investment in soil and water conservation (SWC) on private plots and communal lands, and then preferences of grazing practices influencing watershed management. Using data from a survey of randomly selected 332 households, we employed different econometric tools (ordered probit, binary logit, multinomial logit and bivariate probit) as well as qualitative methods. Results of the ordered probit indicate that provision of training, perception on slope of the plot cultivated, holding of land certification are more likely to influence perception on severity of erosion. The multinomial logit shows different variables affecting the likelihood of practicing a specific SWC measure. Similar set of variables were also used to test their effect on the likelihood of adopting SWC measures on communal land and choice of grazing practices (communal and private). Moreover, coordination failure, and absence of land use plans and policy contributed to poor performance of watershed across the basin. These suggest the need to establish institutional mechanisms to mobilize the youth, introducing an integrated approach, sustained monitoring and evaluation of achievements.

This article examines customary institutions governing rangeland resources in the Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Using data from different pastoral groups, we employed a case-study approach to explore how property rights are defined and enforced. The study indicates heterogeneity in systems of defining and enforcing rights. Due to the fugitive nature of resource use in pastoral systems, property rights vary seasonally. Though flexibility in the definition of such rights has become central to the survival of pastoral herders, formal administrative boundaries and policies have limited resource access, becoming sources of violent conflict and obstacle to customary systems. Government policies favouring private land use, expansion of large-scale investment on pastoral land, establishment of national parks, and certification of privately used land challenged the smooth functioning of customary land governance. This implies that state intervention should not undermine customary systems but permit them to exercise rangeland governance and ensure pastoral rights to secure livelihoods.

By focusing on the case of the Jarso and the Girhi in eastern Ethiopia, this article seeks to contribute to comparative studies on the social, territorial and relational effects of the effort at political and administrative decentralization in multi-ethnic settings. The article analyses the political and social implications of the elements that constitute impediments to social cohesion and socio-economic interaction in the study area. The data required for the study were collected through fieldwork that involved interviews, focus group discussions and field observations. On the basis of the analysis, the article recommends what should be done to create a relational politics of place in which places and spaces that connect people remain open, discontinuous, relational and internally diverse.

Land is an asset of enormous importance for billions of rural dwellers in the developing world. Increased land access for the poor can also bring direct benefits of poverty alleviation, not least by contributing directly to increased household food security. In countries where agriculture is a main economic activity (e.g. Ethiopia), access to land is a fundamental means whereby the poor can ensure household food supplies and generate income. Therefore, this study aimed to sketch-out institutional arrangements to get access to farmland and to empirically examine institutional mechanisms to settle dispute arising from contracting farmland in Amigna district. The result revealed that land rental markets appeared to be the dominant institutional arrangement to get access to farmland next to Peasant Association allocated arrangement. This created breathing space for short-term land acquisition for landless and/or nearly landless farm households. Moreover, the dominant transactions took place among a neighbour followed by transfers between friends in the same peasant association, and relatives in the same peasant association. The foregoing discussion with key informants revealed that such transfers are informal and there are no formal rules and regulations to enforce land transfers to reduce high risk that may arise from these transactions. Regarding the mechanisms used by the sample respondents'in order to resolve disputes, farmers claimed their rights through local elders, religious leaders, and local institutions. This may be due to the perception of legal uncertainty over landholdings particularly in the case of rental contracts, which existed informally. Therefore, policy and development interventions should give emphasis to Improvement of such institutional arrangements that create venue. for land access.

Land is an asset of enormous importance for billions of rural dwellers in the developing world. Increased land access for the poor can also bring direct benefits of poverty alleviation, not least by contributing directly to increased household food security. In countries where agriculture is a main economic activity (e.g. Ethiopia), access to land is a fundamental means whereby the poor can ensure household food supplies and generate income. Therefore, this study aimed to sketch-out institutional arrangements help to get access to farmland in Amigna district. The result revealed that land rental markets appeared to be the dominant institutional arrangement to get access to farmland next to Peasant Association allocated arrangement. This created breathing space for short-term land acquisition for landless and/or nearly landless farm households. Moreover, the dominant transactions took place among a neighbor followed by transfers between friends in the same peasant association, and a relatives in the same peasant association. Therefore, policy and development interventions should give emphasis to improvement of such institutional arrangements that create venue for land access and strengthening enforcing rules of formal land rental markets allowed in the proclamation so as to enhance well functioning dynamic land transaction in the district.

"A growing body of literature underlines the gradual dismantling of common property grazing land, as range enclosure tends to expand. This paper aims to examine the driving forces (external or internal) for enclosure and its consequences. Evaluating them helps predict whether enclosure practice aids in attaining income security and ensuring household welfare by supporting livestock development. Moreover, it explores the role of customary authorities in defining and enforcing rights to private use of land and attempts to scrutinize whether informal rules emerge to respond to these needs and even become an incentive to establish private enclosures. A broader aim is to compare the motivations and consequences with respect to land enclosure and to delineate the processes and actors involved. Based on survey of 160 households and focus group discussion with customary leaders and state agents, results indicate that there are endogenous and exogenous driving forces for range enclosure and change in land use with the advent effect of incompatible demands (conflict of interest) on resource and unstable property rights. Although unreliable, private benefits from enclosure may still continue to be tempting for individual households to practice it. But its expansion in connection with short-term gains does not generally increase the welfare of (agro-) pastoral community in the longer- term as it is causing extensive rangeland degradation, bringing irreversible damage to the ecology. In general, variation is observed across the cases studied in terms of rule enforcement, benefits from enclosure and the underlying incentives. Though signs of state support for enclosure are evident via assessing the role of lower level state administrators in allocation of land for private grazing, policy support for private land use cannot fully explain the gradual shift in property rights to the rangeland. The role of socio-economic and ecological changes is much more important and has widespread influence. The overall evidence reiterates the concern of others who underline the 'less clear-cut' role of government policies in speeding up rangeland enclosure. Finally, it makes explicit on the influence of economic changes on norms favoring private use of the range."