Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T12:24:27.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From self-subsistence farm production to khat: driving forces of change in Ethiopian agroforestry homegardens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2016

MERSHA GEBREHIWOT ,
MARINE ELBAKIDZE ,
GUN LIDESTAV ,
MATS SANDEWALL ,
PER ANGELSTAM  and
HABTEMARIAM KASSA
MERSHA GEBREHIWOT*
Affiliation:
School for Forest Management, Faculty of Forest Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 43, SE-73921 Skinnskatteberg, Sweden
MARINE ELBAKIDZE
Affiliation:
School for Forest Management, Faculty of Forest Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 43, SE-73921 Skinnskatteberg, Sweden
GUN LIDESTAV
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Resource Management, Faculty of Forest Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
MATS SANDEWALL
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Resource Management, Faculty of Forest Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
PER ANGELSTAM
Affiliation:
School for Forest Management, Faculty of Forest Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 43, SE-73921 Skinnskatteberg, Sweden
HABTEMARIAM KASSA
Affiliation:
Centre for International Forestry Research, PO Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
*
*Correspondence: Mersha Gebrehiwot mersha.gebrehiwot@slu.se
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Traditional agroforestry homegardens deliver multiple products and benefits, including food security and livelihoods for rural households in Ethiopia. However, this land use has been changing towards monoculture production of khat (Catha edulis). This study analyses the development trajectories and causes of change in agroforestry homegardens. In total, 84 interviews, including key informant and semi-structured household interviews, and eight focus group discussions were conducted in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Regional State. It was found that khat production was increasing regardless of household wealth status. The proximate causes included better financial income for households, smaller sizes of farms due to farm land redistribution, favourable market conditions for khat, access to irrigation, decrease in governmental subsidies to buy fertilizer and quality seeds for food crop production, a positive experience of other farmers in khat production, and minimizing risks of theft and wildlife damage. Khat production challenges the implementation of national policies towards eradication of poverty and hunger.

Keywords

cash cropsfood securityproximate causetraditional land use
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 263 - 272
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abebaw, F., Atalay, A. & Hanlon, C. (2007) Alcohol and drug abuse in Ethiopia: past, present and future. African Journal of Drug and Alcohol Studies 6: 40–52.Google Scholar
Admasu, T. & Struik, P. (2001) Enset (Enset ventricoum (Welw.) Cheesman) ‘Kocho’ yield under different crop establishment methods as compared to yields of other carbohydrate-rich food crops. Journal of Agricultural Science 49: 81–94.Google Scholar
Admasu, T. & Struik, P. (2002) Analysis of Enset (Ensete ventricosum) indigenous production methods and farm based biodiversity in major-growing regions of Southern Ethiopia. Experimental Agriculture 38: 291–315.Google Scholar
Adnew, B. (2004) Role of agriculture in Ethiopia. Agricultural Economics 1: 38–153.Google Scholar
Almaz, N. & Niehof, A. (2004) The significance of enset culture and biodiversity for rural household food and livelihood security in south western Ethiopia. Agriculture and Human Values 21: 61–71.Google Scholar
Almaz, N. (2001) Diversity and conservation of enset (Enset vetricosum Welw. Cheesman) and its relation to household food and livelihood security in South-western Ethiopia. PhD Dissertation. The Netherlands: Wageningen University.Google Scholar
Angelstam, P., Grodzynskyi, M., Andersson, K., Axelsson, R., Elbakidze, M., Khoroshev, A., Kruhlov, I. & Naumov, V. (2013) Measurement, collaborative learning and research for sustainable use of ecosystem services: landscape concepts and Europe as laboratory. AMBIO 42 (2): 129–145.Google Scholar
Bacha, D., Namara, R., Bogale, A. & Tesfaye, A. (2011) Impact of small-scale irrigation on household poverty. Empirical evidence from the Ambo district in Ethiopia. Irrigation and Drainage 60: 1–10.Google Scholar
Belwal, R. & Teshome, H. (2011) Chat exports and the Ethiopian economy: opportunities, dilemmas and constraints. African Journal of Business Management 5: 3635–3648.Google Scholar
Kebede, B. (2002) Land tenure and common pool resources in rural Ethiopia: a study based on fifteen sites. African Development Review 14 (1): 113–149.Google Scholar
Bofed (2007) Ethiopia building on progress: a plan for accelerated and sustained development to end poverty. Annual Progress Report, ed. MOFED. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Ministry of Finance and Economy Development.Google Scholar
Bofed (2008) Regional statistics abstract. Hawassa, Ethiopia: Bureau of Finance and Economic Development.Google Scholar
Crabtree, B. & Miller, W. (1992) Doing Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
CSA (2011) Population projection: based on 2007 National Population and Housing Census. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: CSA.Google Scholar
Deere, C.D. & Doss, R.C. (2006) Gender and the distribution of wealth in developing countries. Helsinki, Finland: UNU-WIDER.Google Scholar
EEA (2002) Land tenure and agricultural development in Ethiopia. Research Report. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Ethiopian Economic Policy Research Institute.Google Scholar
Ezekiel, G. (2004) Leaf of Allah: Khat and Agricultural Transformation in Harerge, Ethiopia, 1875–1991. Athens, OH, USA: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Ezekiel, G. (2008) Scourge of life or an economic lifeline. Public discourses on khat (Catha edulis) in Ethiopia. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 43: 784–802.Google Scholar
Ezekiel, G. (2010) Khat in the Horn of Africa: historical perspectives and current trends. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 132: 607–614.Google Scholar
FAO (2010) Food insecurity in the world: addressing food insecurity in protracted crisis. Rome, Italy: FAO.Google Scholar
FAO (2012) Food insecurity in the world: economic growth is necessary but not sufficient to accelerate reduction of hunger and malnutrition. Rome, Italy: FAO.Google Scholar
Fernandes, E. & Nair, P. (1986) An evolution of the structure and function of tropical homegardens. Agricultural Systems 21: 279–310.Google Scholar
Geist, H. & Lambin, E. (2004) Dynamic causal patterns of desertification. BioScience 54: 817–829.Google Scholar
Geist, H. & Lambin, E. (2002) Proximate causes and underlying driving forces of tropical deforestation. BioScience 52: 143–150.Google Scholar
Gessesse, D. & Kinlund, P. (2008) Khat expansion and forest decline in Wondo Genet, Ethiopia. Geografiska Annaler: Serious B, Human Geography 90: 187–203.Google Scholar
Gessesse, D. (2013) Current African issues: favouring a demonised plant khat and Ethiopian smallholder enterprise, No. 51. Uppsala, Sweden: Nordic Africa Institute.Google Scholar
Guesh, G. (2012) Production and consumption trends of khat in Ethiopia: a big business or a big worry. Advances in Agriculture Science and Engineering Research 2: 414–427.Google Scholar
Hansen, J. (1996) Is agricultural sustainability a useful concept? Agricultural Systems 59: 117–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joanne, C. (2014) European policy on khat: drug policy lessons not learned. Policy Brief 2, May 2014. Swansea, Wales: Swansea University.Google Scholar
Juujärvi, S. & Pesso, K. (2013) Actor roles in an Urban Living Lab: What can we learn from Suurpelto, Finland? pp. 22–27. Technology Innovation Management Review.Google Scholar
Kabura, E. & Doppler, W. (2005) Smallholder tea and coffee production and its impact on food production and living standards. Kenya: International Agricultural Research for Development.Google Scholar
Archives, KAs (2011) Registered lists of households of KAs of Hawella Wondo, Gemetto Galle, Cheffa Cenni and Arenfema (Sidama zone).Google Scholar
Klein, A. & Metaal, P. (2010) How to move forward in the regulation of khat consumption. Ethnopharmacology 132: 584–589.Google Scholar
Klein, A., Beckerleg, S. & Hailu, D. (2009) Regulating khat–dilemmas and opportunities for the international drug control system. International Journal of Drug Policy 20: 509–513.Google Scholar
Klein, A., Metaal, P. & Jelsam, M. (2012) Chewing over khat prohibition: the globalization of control and regulation of an ancient stimulant. Series on legislative reform of drug policy No. 17. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Transnational Institute.Google Scholar
Kumar, B. & Nair, P. (2004) The enigma of tropical homegardens function in Kerala, Indonesia. Agroforestry Systems 61: 135–152.Google Scholar
Kumar, B. & Nair, P. (2006) The concept of homegarden. In: Tropical Homegardens: a Time-Tested Example of Sustainable Agroforestry, eds. Kumar, B. & Nair, P., pp. 1–11. The Netherlands: Springer.Google Scholar
Kvale, S. & Brikman, S. (2008). InterViews: learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing, 2nd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage Publications Inc.Google Scholar
Lambin, E. & Geist, H. (2007) Causes of land-use and land-cover change. In: Encyclopedia of Earth, eds. Cleveland, C. J.. Washington, DC, USA: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment.Google Scholar
Lambin, E., Geist, H. & Lepers, E. (2003). Dynamics of land use and land cover change in tropical regions. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 28: 205–241.Google Scholar
Meinzen-Dick, R. (2009) Property rights for poverty reduction? UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. DESA Working Paper No. 91. ST/ESA/2009/DWP/91 New York, USA.Google Scholar
Osoria, N. (2002) The global coffee crisis: a threat for sustainable development. A report submitted to World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa.Google Scholar
Peyre, A., Guidal, A., Wiersum, K. & Bongers, F. (2006) Dynamics of homegarden structure and function in Kerala, India. Agroforestry Systems 66: 101–115.Google Scholar
Rao, N. (2006) Land right, gender equality and household food security: exploring the conceptual links in the case of India. Food Policy 31: 180–193.Google Scholar
Ravallion, M., Chen, S. & Sangraula, P. (2008) Dollar a Day Revisited: The World Bank Development Research Group Director's Office. Policy Research Working Paper 4620.Google Scholar
Rigby, D. & Caceres, D. (2001) Organic farming and the sustainability of agricultural systems. Agricultural Systems 68: 21–40.Google Scholar
Ringheim, K., Teller, C. & Sines, E. (2009) Ethiopia at a crossroads: demography, gender, and development. Policy Brief, Population Reference Bureau, Washington, DC, USA.Google Scholar
Schaller, N. (1993) The concept of agricultural sustainability. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 46: 89–97.Google Scholar
Singh, S., Haberl, H., Chertow, M., Mirtl, M. & Schmid, M. (2013) Long Term Socio-Ecological Research. Studies in Society-Nature Interactions Across Spatial and Temporal Scales. New York, USA: Springer.Google Scholar
Tadesse, K. (2002) Five thousand years of sustainability: a case study on Gedeo land use (Southern Ethiopia). Treebook 5. Heelsum, the Netherlands: Treemail Publisher.Google Scholar
Taye, H. & Aune, B. (2003) khat expansion in the Ethiopian highlands. Mountain Research and Development 23: 185– 189.Google Scholar
Tesfaye, A. (2005) Diversity in homegarden agroforestry systems in Southern Ethiopia. PhD Dissertation. The Netherlands: Wageningen University and Research Centre.Google Scholar
Tesfaye, A. (2006) Diversity and dynamics in homegardens of Southern Ethiopia. In: Tropical Homegardens: a Time-Tested Example of Sustainable Agroforestry, eds. Kumar, B. & Nair, P., pp. 123–142. The Netherlands: Springer.Google Scholar
Tesfaye, A. (2013) Determinants of crop diversity and composition in enset-coffee agroforestry homegarden of Southern Ethiopia. Agriculture and Rural Development in Tropics and Sub Tropics 114: 29–38.Google Scholar
Tesfaye, A., Wiersum, K. & Bongers, F. (2010) Spatial and temporal variation in crop diversity in agroforestry homegardens of southern Ethiopia. Agroforestry Systems 78: 309–322.Google Scholar
Torkelsson, A. (2007) Resources, not capital: a case study of the gendered distribution and productivity of social network ties in rural Ethiopia. Rural Sociology 72: 583–607.Google Scholar
UNDP Ethiopia (2002) Uncertain food security situation for farmers in Sidama zone due to lack of access to farm inputs. Addis Ababa: Ethiopia: UNDP Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia.Google Scholar
USAID (2002) Food Security Crisis in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Agency for International Development (USAID) Fact Sheet Washington, DC, USA. 13 November 2002.Google Scholar
Wiersum, K. (2006) Diversity and change in homegarden cultivation in Indonesia. In: Tropical Homegardens: a Time-Tested Example Sustainable Agroforestry, eds. Kumar, B. & Nair, P., pp. 13–24. The Netherlands: Springer.Google Scholar