The Political Economy of Land Degradation in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is an agricultural country with more than 85 percent of its population engaged in agriculture. This sector accounts for more than 40 percent of the country's GDP, and earns almost all of the country's foreign exchange. One of the immediate problems facing Ethiopia today is land degradation, particularly soil and vegetation degradation. On the average, soil erosion is 42 tons/hectare/year in the croplands, but erosion rates as high as 290 tons/hectare/year have been recorded in fields cultivated with teff (Eragrostis tef). The average soil rate loss is six times greater than the rate of soil formation, and it causes an annual reduction of 4 mm in soil depth. More than 34 percent of the Ethiopian highland areas above 1500 meters above sea level - which support 88 percent of the population, 60 percent of livestock, and 90 percent of the agriculturally suitable area - have soil depths of less than 35 cm.1 Although up to 40 percent of Ethiopia is believed to have been under forest cover in the past, continuous cutting of trees for cultivation, fuel, building, etc. has reduced the forest cover to less than 3 percent at present. The Ethiopian economy is, indeed, a biomass fuel economy since fuelwood, dung, charcoal, and crop residue account for 93.9 percent of the country's total energy supply, of which 77 percent is derived from fuelwood.2 In many parts of Ethiopia, hills are devoid of vegetation and bare soil is common. On the Shewan Plateau, for instance, the aboveground biomass is as low as 73.35 gms/m2 in grazed sites, the livestock density of which is three times the carrying capacity.3