Abstract:
Land has been curtail national asset and seen as central to economy, the social and political spheres of
community as well as the overall society. The objective of this paper has been to assess the implication
of accessing land and agricultural based livelihoods of smallholder on land use. The underpinning
research involved both primary and secondary data. Primary data were generated using household
surveys, focus group discussions and observations. The study revealed that unlike the northern,
central highlands and southern parts of Ethiopia, access to land in the northwestern lowlands has
emanated from traditional open access regimes. Here, increasing demand for land, formalization
process of rural land ownership and access occurring since 2003 combined with poor soil and water
conservation practices have negatively affected the productivity of land. Long-standing traditions of
agricultural extensification practices coupled with shifting cultivation and open grazing have failed to
remain viable strategies of smallholder farmers. Consequently, smallholder farmers have experienced
unwise population induced agricultural intensification practices, resulting in decreasing land
productivity. Based on the evidences from this study, it is concluded that unless proper measures are
taken, the current agricultural based livelihood strategies are not in line with sustainable land use
practices.
