The Migration of Gojjam Peasants To East Wollega; Causes and Impcats
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Date
2010
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Publisher
AAU
Abstract
The spontaneous rural-rural migration is one of the least investi gated subj ects in Eth iopi a. The aim of the
thesis is to add some information on the existing studies so far. Furthermore, the maj or theme of the thesis
is focusing on identifYing the factors and outcomes of spontaneous migration both in the area of origin
and destination Dega Damot and Gidda Ayana woredas respectively.
There is a general consensus from the previous studies that spontaneous migration and settlement is
usually the outcomes of drought or famine, scarcity of arable land, high population pressure, degradation
and fragmentation of land, lack of oxen and other social related problems.
The spontaneous out migration of Dega Damot peasants has a similar attributes to its counterparts of the
highland parts of northern Ethiopia except drought. Migration experience of Dega Damol peasants to the
lowland part of Gidda Ayana started in 1990. The migrants of Dega Damol Woreda fl ocked one
followed by another to the aforementioned Woreda since 1990 due to two main reasons. The first one is
the establishment of State Farms in Anger Gutin .Even though State Farms particularly those initi ated by
Foreign aids had been practiced in Anger Gutin since 1972, it was the Derue State Fa rm that was
implemented after 1984/5 famine became very intensive and able to create employment opportunity fo r
the people of different ethnic background. This created the exposure for peasants of Go}j am in part icul ar
and Amhara in general. Secondly, the resettlement attempt of Dega Damol peasants to the lowland part of
Gidda Ayana in 1990 also created exposure for spontaneous migrants. The peasants voluntarily initiated
th is resettlement program by having permission from the concerned bodies at both end s. In the same year
the resettlement program was started, which in turn paved the way for the wave of the then mi gration.
After that, out migration was initiated by the interplay of push and pull factors.
As the findin g reveals, the decision of out migration of Dega Damot peasants is the cumulative effect of
individuals, families and community in general. As Castle and Miller (2003:29) put it as the Micro, Meso
and Macro-structure are intertwined in the migratory process; there is no clear di viding line between
them. That means no single cause is sufficient to explain why people dec ided to leave their ori gin and
settle in another area.
The migration of the peasants of Amhara region in general and Gojj am in particular to Eastern Wollega
has both positive and negative results. The positive effects of migration at destination includes
intensification of production which in turn created economic relations (Sharecropping, hiring labour and
exchange of goods and services); the emergence of social integration through; Jddir, mahber, Tul matbat
and marriage. The negative outcomes of it at destination encompass deforestation and inter-ethnic conflict
main ly due to economic reason. But at the area of origin migration is characteri zed by only positi ve
outcomes since it gives breathing by easing pressure on land space for the people who stayed behind in
addition to remittance. Due to the existence of high population pressure in Dega Damol Woreda, still
migration does not create shortage of labour.