A study case on coffee (Coffea arabica): Limu Coffe - IRD

socialist government in military dictatorship hands lasted until 1991, and the URSS collapse.
One of the first political measures was the proclamation of the agrarian reform, on 4 th March
1975. The whole rural lands became the Ethiopian people collective property. Land sale and
renting became forbidden. Lands were divided between all peasants according to family size.
In this way, farmers or peasants’ associations (kebele) were created in less than 800 hectares
territories to oversee this land reform, villagisation and social programmes (education,
health). Farmers’ associations were in charge to distribute the land to farmers. All adult
growers were allowed to ask plots. Each married peasant was given four fetchassa, and often
supplementary lands (four to six fetchassa). According to farmers’ associations, landowners
could keep important estates and former peasants their land (at most ten fetchassa). Plots
given to farmers were not of one block but scattered on different ecosystems as agro-forests
and forests. Simultaneously villagisation happened, farmers were employed to build roads,
schools, shops, grinders and houses in the new villages. In 1983, they had to install in these
villages and received half a fetchassa to build their house and for their garden. They kept their
fields at their former place. This landscape organisation still remains. Farmers’ associations
then organized cooperatives in order to promote new skills (coffee pulperies implementation)
and crops, and to sell it to government at fixed prices. Fertilizers and selected seeds were
bought to the ministry of agriculture then sold to farmers by these farmers’ associations. Some
land and production means collectivisation appeared, dividing harvests to the pro rata work
of each peasant. All peasants had to pay an annual tax to government, depending on land size
and fertility.
Since the socialism government fall and further liberalisation, land property rules
roughly remained the same. Indeed socialism foundations didn’t collapse and let its prints to
the current Ethiopian rural framework: land is still an Ethiopian collective property; land sale
is forbidden; farmers’ associations are still the basic administrative unit in charge of peasants’
issues. Changes are that land renting is now allowed; also labour force employment; that sale
is dressed up as long time renting contracts (forty years); and that collectivisation obviously
disappeared letting behind service cooperatives which nowadays play an important role in
coffee production.
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