The Impact of Agricultural Investment on Local Livelihood and Environment in Guba Woreda, Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Ethiopia
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Date
2020-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Now a day, the notion of investment in agricultural sector intends to increase production and
productivity of agriculture, create employment opportunities, and enhance local revenue.
Agricultural investment is expected to improve the living conditions of local communities and
ensure efficient utilization of natural resources. However, in the study area the effect of
agricultural investment on local communities‟ livelihood and environment was not well
documented. This study, therefore, examined the impact of agricultural investment on local
livelihood and environment in Guba woreda, Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State. Both
qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed in this study. Quantitative data
was derived mainly from structured questionnaires administered to households, and qualitative
data was analyzed through review of documents and smi-structured and unstructured in-depth
interviews with key informants. Systematic random sampling technique was employed to draw
150 household heads from Aysid kebele in Guba woreda. To analyze the implications of
agricultural investment on local communities‟ livelihood and environment, specific statistical
tests Chi-X
2
and T-test were utilized in the study. In addition to descriptive statistics, multiple
linear regressions were employed to estimate the effect of some explanatory variables on
dependent variable. The regression result revealed that 31% variation in dependent variable is
explained by independent variables. To supplement the survey data, a remote sensing satellite
image data (landsat5 and sentil2) was collected with ground verification. Based on this, the land
use or vegetation cover change map or image was analyzed by employing Arc GIS10.5 software
to calculate the NDVI values. Unlike the theoretical hypothesis, the time series result indicated
the trends of production and productivity of small holders farming is declining and the average
fiscal revenue share of agricultural investment is insignificant (7%). Concerning employment
opportunities, out of 167 functional projects, 102(61%) investment projects created 2,428
permanent and 44,476 temporary job opportunities for communities. Out of these the share of
local communities in both permanent and temporary employment is 8% and 33% respectively.
On the other hand, the local communities in sample kebele claimed that agricultural investment
has potential threats: deforestation (82%), dispossessions of land (75%), mal-practices (86%),
violent conflict (77%), and increase charcoal production practices (80.1%), and increase the
incidence of forest fire (64%). In relation with overall transformation of land escape the survey
results in the study indicated that land use or cover change is severely increasing from time to
time. The satellite image analysis indicates intense land use dynamics over the past three
referenced years (1990-2000, 2000-2010 and 2010-2019). The result revealed that the forest or
dense woodlands reduced by 1% per year in the 2010-2019 periods. Crop lands increase on
average by 26%. However, the rate of increment per year was higher in the 2010-2019 time
periods. The increment is 2.6 % per year and it is on the expense of dense and open woodlands.
Furthermore, the survey results indicated that the major causes for conflict between local
communities and investors: increasing land less migrant communities 86(63%), lack of local
communities‟ participation in land dealing 94(69%), practices of informal land renting
113(83%), and 121(89%) encroachments in investment farm land by local communities. Based
on the findings it is recommended that in agricultural investment process land identification,
preparation and land transfer to investors has to be done along with the local communities‟
consultation and participation to minimize the adverse effects of investment projects.
Description
Keywords
Agricultural investment, Livelihood, Land use change and NDVI.