The Evolution of Tenancy in Hararge (Ca. 1887-1975)
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Date
2016-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
For most of its histOfY, f1ardrge's rural community did not get a proper historical study. In an
attempt to fill this gap, this dissertation explores the agrarian histolY of f1ardrgeca 1887-1975.
It examines Ihe economic, socio-cultural, legal and political histDlY of tenancy. As a vast and
spacious ethno-geographical region, f1ariirge demonstrated variegated economic formations
before the conquest. Hardr town and its environs settled by the Oromo agriculturalists practiced
a well-developed plow-based agriculture and cultivated cereal crops such as sorghum, maize,
wheat and barley slifjicient for their own subsistence while pastoral economy predominated the
Cdredr plateau and some peripheral arid areas.
The political and militOlY processes of the late 19'/0 centllly which led 10 the conquest and
incorporation of Hardrge gave rise to the control over the means of production, mainly land.
Subsequently, the transfer of property right was sanctioned by the state 's land grant and land
sales. Shaping a new land holding pattern in their own[avor, the settler communities nurlured
cereal culture in all parts of Hardrge and established the ascendancy of crop agriculture in the
economic formation. The subject of this dissertation is therefore tracing the economic
transformation wrought by property awnership and the changing patterns of production
relations pom the indigenous means of subsistence to the mdlkdiiiia system since the conquesllo
1935 and then to thefidl;/ledged landlord-tenancy relatian since 1941.
Since land without labor was worthless, Ihe process o[privatization of land wrought competition
for labor. As labor was abundanl relalive 10 land, there emerged diflerenl forms of labor
mobilization of the land hunglY productive force. One of the mechanisms through which this
unequal distribution of land and labor was reconciled was lenancy. Cognizanl 0.[ this, Ihis study
tries 10 demonstrate that the evolulion and spread of tenancy in f1ardrge lvas intimately
associaled with the transfer of land fi'om the indigenes to the settler communities. Within that
fi'Olnework the cenlral thesis of the dissertation is thaI pom among Ihe di/[erenl agrarian
problems that hindered agricultural productivity in rural Hararge, tenancy figures prominently.
This study views Ie nancy as a means of slllplllS appropriation in Ihe form of rent, produce and
labor by the landowning class. SI.II1Jlus was appropriated through different forms o[ tenancy
arrangemenls such as sharecropping, contract lenancy and labor lenancy. From these
sharecropping was the dominant fo rm. It ll'CIS also an indispensable condition for the survival 0.[
Ihe landowning seltler commllnilies who were grossly undercapitalized in Ihe sense Ihal many
would have been unable 10 projit pom Iheir land lvithoul it. On top of the high rental payment in
the form of cash or produce, lenanlS were required to fitljill a nlllllber o[obligations and slincily
labor requirements, which aggravaled Ihe plight of lenanlS and lIndermined agricullural
produclivity.
The dissertation analy=es these and related Ihemes "'ilhin eight chapters by using
complemenlCII)' sources o[ evidence. Oral data l"ere care/ilily collecled throllgh inlervieltl.
f;Veallh (?f archival sources/rom VW';OlfS centers were a/so extensively used. By bringing loge/her
Ihese sources with the ideas o[ several alilhorilies on peasanl sludics. Ihe slud), atlelllplS 10
anctly=e Ihe overall piclure o.l slagnoling agriculfllral pradllclion and Ihe impoverished living
conditions ol /-fardrge's rural Commumit
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Keywords
Evolution of Tenancy in Harargc