On wednesday october 3, 2012 AGTER organised a thematic meeting about:

50 years of agrarian change in Ethiopia : from agrarian reforms to large scale land appropriations

Meeting and debate with Dessalegn Rahmato

Dessalegn Rahmato. 50 années de changements... par agter-video

European medias have recently reported many cases and images of land grabbing on a massive scale made in Ethiopia by powerful private and public economic agents, Ethiopians and foreigners. Less known is that Ethiopia has experienced in the past various political and practical attempts to securize the family and community based uses of land. What did those experiences consist in? What factors have determined their success or failure? What links can be establisched with the ongoing land grabbing processes ?

DESSALEGN RAHMATO is the founder and the first manager of the Forum for Social Studies, an independent policy research institution based in Addis Ababa. He was for many years a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development Research at Addis Ababa University, which he left in 1997. He has published numerous works on land and agrarian issues, food security, poverty and environmental policy. Among his main works are: Agrarian Reform in Ethiopia (1985); Famine and Survival Strategies: A Case Study of Northeast Ethiopia (1991); The Dynamics of Rural Poverty: Case Studies from a District in Southern Ethiopia (1992); Land Tenure and Land Policy in Ethiopia after the Derg (1994, editor); Environmental Change and State Policy in Ethiopia (2001); Democratic Assistance to Post-Conflict Ethiopia: Impact and Limitations (co-authored with Meheret Ayenew, 2004); Searching for Tenure Security: The Land System and New Policy Iniitiatives in Ethiopia (2004); Studies in Agrarian Change in Ethiopia et très récemment Land to Investors: Large-Scale Land Transfers in Ethiopia (2011).

He is the winner of the 1999 Prince Claus Award in recognition of "his achievements in the field of research and development". The award is given by the Prince Claus Fund of the Netherlands to individuals from the Third World considered to have made significant contributions to their societies.