Ethiopian Land Tenure from Heterogeneity to Uniformity: A Historical Perspective with Emphasis to Southern Provinces

Land tenure encompasses social, administrative and economic concepts and it elaborates the relationships between individuals, groups of individuals and the state with respect to land. Historically, land have had great social, economic and political importance and even today land in Ethiopia, where the majority of its people engaged in agriculture, is essential means of production for addressing the development and basic livelihood needs of the rural society (Belay &Manig, 2004:124). As system, land tenure presupposes land ownership and elaborates who can use what type of land and for how long, and under what conditions. Land tenure system also refers to tenure arrangement on the basis of existing customary or national laws related to land tenure policy (Allan Hoben, 2002:25; Achamyleh Gashu, 2014:17) In the pre-1974 Ethiopia, land and surplus extraction from its tillers were the economic backbone of ruling class and for the sake of extracting the largest possible revenue various tenure arrangements were introduced. However, the reform measures for tenure arrangements, which were taken by the government, without their involvement and knowledge had faced violent reactions from peasants ( Gebru Tarke, 1991; J. Markakis &Nega Ayele, 1986:25). The debate between and among academicians and politicians on rural land tenure that has been up surged since 1990s, is another indication about the central importance of rural land. From the literature of land tenure studies, it is possible to see that in southern Ethiopia land tenure system had been more diverse with complex land ownership and utilization arrangements (Ambaye, 2015; Abebe D. Beyene etal, 2012). ABSTRACT