The Impact of Horizontal Urban Expansion on Sub-Urban Agricultural Community Livelihood: The Case of Bore Town, Southern Oromia,Ethiopia
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2016-06-21
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Throughout the world, we find human being residing either in urban or rural or in
between urban fringes or rural fringes. Both urbanization and ruralism are counter
competing areas whereas the area between is the field of contest As it is concomitant with
socio-economic development, urbanization has a higher level of development in developed
nations than under developed ones. In Ethiopia, although its level is the lowest even among
other under developed nations, its rate, however, is the highest and made a country one of
twenty-three countries experiencing fast urbanization in the World. As a matter of this
fact, Bore Town is among the Ethiopian urban settings experiencing unprecedented rate
of urbanization through expansion. Hence, the objective of this study was to assess the
impacts of urban expansion on the livelihoods of farm households residing in the urban
fringes of Bore Town, which is located in the Southern Oromia region of Ethiopia. This
study was designed to investigate the land acquisition procedures employed by the town
administration, sustainability of livelihood related support provided to dislocated farm
households and good practices elsewhere as regards sustainable livelihood strategies.
Based on the descriptive research design, the study had applied the mix methods of both
Qualitative and Quantitative approaches. A household survey was conducted on 72 farm
households heads sampled through snowball techniques and through employing key
informants of the study. Primary data had been collected through questionnaire, semistructured
interview guides, participant observation and focus group discussion while the
secondary one was from different written and documented sources. Having analyzing the
collected data through the SSPS, the finding of the study revealed that the land acquisition
procedures adopted by the town administration take place in the absence of participation
and consultation with affected farm households. Moreover, the acquisition of land for urban expansion has been taking place without any compensation for loss of assets and improvements made on the land that adversely affected the livelihoods of households and families residing in the urban fringes of Bore town. Hence, the livelihood of such community has been at the verge of risk. This negative externality was attributed mainly to lack of awareness (legal frame work), lack of good governance and lack of goodwill of town administration & lack of observance of existing rules and regulations on land expropriation
from and compensation to farmers were determining factors. Thus, it is the recommendation of this study that there is a need to prevail urban good governance to curtail the problem,
especially, following participatory approach on stakeholders, particularly, farmers, in
to urban development plans and projects, land acquisition procedures should be
implemented in accordance with provisions of the proclamations and regulations of the
country that provide for commensurate compensation as well as the sustainable livelihood
related support to farm households to be dislocated to give way for urban expansion . There
should, also, be awareness of existing rules and regulations which guide expropriation
from and compensation to farmers when their land is expropriated for public interest,
there should, also, be consideration of the recipients' interests on kind and quantity of
compensation to farm households, then, pre-trainings and post coaching need to be carried out to enable such community sustain and secure their livelihood in such changed and continuously re changing urban terrains.
Keywords: urban expansion, expropriation, compensation, livelihood
Description
Keywords
Urban Expansion, Expropriation, Compensation, Livelihood