Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Mechanized Farming and Villagization in Ethiopia

The Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars published in August 2014 an analysis titled "Governing the Horn of Africa's Lowlands: Land Investments and Villagization in Gambella, Ethiopia" by Fana Gebresenbet Erda, a research scholar with the Africa Program of the Wilson Center.

He notes that the Ethiopian government is promoting commercial mechanized farming and villagization.  The government's goal for the villagization program is to provide new skills to farmers and herders so that they can engage in modern settled agriculture, farming, and livestock rearing.  One of the problems encountered with the program has been a lack of prior consultation.  The United States government has begun limiting the funding that can be used for the villagization program.