Publications

@phdthesis{TUW-295204,

title = {Land Cover Change Monitoring, Land Certification and Land Consolidation: Towards Sustainable Rural Land Administration in Ethiopia referring to Gozamin District},

author = {Abebaw Andarge Gedefaw},

year  = {2021},

date = {2021-01-01},

urldate = {2021-01-01},

school = {Universität für Bodenkultur/Institut für Geomatik},

abstract = {Preliminary remarks: 1. Information on land cover changes as well as the driving forces behind such changes underpin a proper understanding of the dynamics of land cover. 2. Tenure security is an important factor for land investment and for agricultural productivity. 3. Land consolidation is a proper tool to solve inefficiencies in agricultural production.

This study aims to examine the magnitude and rate of land cover change and to identify its major determinants. It aims to highlight effects of land certification on tenure security, land investment, crop productivity, and land dispute. Finally, it aims to assess the determinants, which influence the willingness of farmers to participate in voluntary land consolidation processes. The investigations were outlined in the Ethiopian Gozamin District and they are based on survey data collected from 343 randomly selected farm households, structured interviews, focus group discussions with farmers and expert panels. The collected data were analyzed quantitatively by using descriptive statistics and logistic regression models and they were complemented by qualitative data.

Satellite images of Landsat 5 (1986), Landsat 7 (2003), and Sentinel-2 (2018) were used to assess the dynamics of land cover. Focus group discussions, interviews, and farmers' lived experiences through a household survey were applied to identify the factors for land cover changes based on the DPSIR (Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response) Framework. Results of the investigations revealed that during the last three decades the study area has undergone an extensive land cover change, primarily a shift from cropland and grassland into forests and built-up areas. Thus, quantitative land cover change detection between 1986 and 2018 revealed that cropland, grassland, and bare areas declined by 10.53%, 5.7%, and 2.49%. Forest, built-up, shrub/scattered vegetation, and water bodies expanded by 13.47%, 4.02%, 0.98%, and 0.25%. Population growth, the rural land tenure system, the overuse of land, the climate change, and the scarcity of grazing land could be identified as key drivers of these land cover changes.

The assessment of land tenure security indicated that most farm households feel that their land use rights are secure after the certification process. Only 17% fear that the government at any time could take their land use rights. Most farm households identified a reduction of disputes after certification and land management practices improved from 70.3% before certification to 90.1% after certification. As key factors for the increase of terracing and the application of manure, the study determined total farm size, the average distance from farm to homestead, perception of degradation, access to credit, training to land resource management, fear about land take-over by the government and total livestock holdings. Crop productivity improved significantly after land certification.

Other results of the study documents that farmers are predominantly willing to participate in voluntary land consolidation (66.8%). Significant determinants influencing the willingness of farmers for voluntary land consolidation are the exchange of parcels with neighbors, the expectation of better arranged parcels, the nearness of plots to the farmstead, and the perception that land fragmentation reduces agricultural productivity. The majority of farmers believes that land consolidation could reduce land use conflicts.

The outputs from this study can be used to assure sustainability in resource utilization, to enable proper land use planning, and to support decision-making. The results also can encourage policy makers to minimize the sources of insecurity, such as frustrations of future land redistribution and land taking without proper land compensation. Voluntary land consolidation could be a policy instrument to address the challenges of subsistence agriculture in Ethiopia.},

keywords = {CHange detection, Land Administration, Land readjustment, Land right certificate, land use},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {phdthesis}

}