Agriculture
A Social History of Land Reform in Ethiopia
Siegfried Pausewang (1937-2012) was one of the leading European scholars of Ethiopia, with contributions made over decades. His engagement in Ethiopia began in the late 1960s, as a professor at the then Haile Selassie University (now Addis Ababa University). This post covers “Peasants, Land and Society: A Social History of Land Reform in Ethiopia” (1983), […]
Tags: #Agriculture #Ethiopia #Land #Land Reform #Land Tenure
FDI in Large-Scale Agriculture in Africa
In 2019 Atkeyelsh Persson published “Foreign Direct Investment in Large-Scale Agriculture in Africa: Economic, Social and Environmental Sustainability in Ethiopia”. The book (presumably) draws on doctoral work done at UCT (finished in 2016) and most of the data / findings presented come from 2014 or before. The book offers unique insight into environmental and sustainability impacts. […]
Tags: #Agriculture #Ethiopia #Foreign Direct Investment #Land Grab #Large-scale land acquisition
The Challenges of Drought
Ethiopia and its people struggle with food insecurity and recurring drought. What are the pathways to overcome these challenges? Access to land, the establishment of justice, the creation of cooperatives, agricultural input distribution, farmer training, environmental rehabilitation, irrigation infrastructure, building institutional capacity, creating effective governmental structures. These are components of the narrative we hear in […]
Agricultural Transformation in Ethiopia
“Agricultural Transformation in Ethiopia: State Policy and Smallholder Farming” (2018) edited by Atakilte Beyene is an excellent book on diverse components of the agricultural sector. Given the importance of agriculture in Ethiopia, this is an important addition as there are few books that cover the sector comprehensively (several are available that cover specific components). The introduction by Atakilte […]
Tags: #Agriculture #Atakilte Beyene #Ethiopia #Rural Development #Smallholder farming
Stranglehold on Africa
In 1962 Rene Dumont wrote False Start in Africa, which offered unique perspectives for the time period, many of which continue to be relevant. I picked up “Stranglehold on Africa” by Rene Dumont and Marie-France Mottin (1983) hoping to find an equally interesting ideas. I did not find it as good as the earlier work. […]
Tags: #Africa #Agriculture #Development Studies #Rene Dumont #Stranglehold on Africa
False Start in Africa (1962)
Rene Dumont’s “False Start in Africa” (1962) is arguably one of the most influential and widely read texts on agriculture in Africa. The book is more of a conversation, than it is an academic text. However, Dumont was a pioneering voice for identifying key issues such as soil erosion, micronutrient deficiencies, soil type and quality […]
Tags: #Africa #Agriculture #False Start in Africa #Rene Dumont #Rural Development
New Publication: Worldviews Apart: Agriculture Extension and Smallholder Farmers
Cochrane, L. (2017) Worldviews Apart: Agriculture Extension and Ethiopian Smallholder Farmers. Journal of Rural Social Sciences 32: 98-118. Abstract: This paper presents an inquiry-based learning assessment into why farmers in the highlands of Ethiopia were not adopting a new planting methodology promoted by the government and non-governmental organizations. It offers a process of reflexivity whereby assumptions […]
Tags: #Agricultural extension #Agriculture #Ethiopia #Rural Development #Worldviews
The Political Basis of Agricultural Policies
Why are policies created they way they are? This question is particularly interesting when the policies do not appear to function well. It may be that the ‘failing’ policies are not actually failing, but serving another, often unstated, purpose. A classic, essential read on this question is “Markets and States in Tropical Africa: The Political […]
Tags: #Agricultural policy #Agriculture #Political Basis of Agricultural Policies #Politics #Power
Funded MA: Northern Agriculture and Food
Project: Agricultural values and food sovereignty possibilities on the edge of Northern Ontario Graduate Program: Public Issues Anthropology MA – University of GuelphDeadline: February 1, 2017 SSHRC-supported graduate funding for students interested in issues of agriculture, food sovereignty, agricultural values and ethics, local food systems, and rural livelihoods. Seeking 1-2 MA students who are planning […]
Tags: #Agriculture #Anthropology #Food Security #Food Sovereignty #Food systems
Resources on Seasonality
Robert Chambers states that “As a dimension of poverty, seasonality is as glaringly obvious as it is still grossly neglected. Attempts to embed its recognition in professional mindsets, policy and practices have still a long way to go” (Chambers, 2012: xv; in the Forward of Devereux, Sabates-Wheeler and Longhurst, 2012). This quote comes from an […]
Tags: #Agriculture #Food Security #Livelihoods #Rural Development #Seasonality
About me
Logan Cochrane
Associate Professor at HBKU in the College of Public Policy. He is an Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences and an Adjunct Professor at Hawassa University (Institute for Policy and Development Research). Over the last fifteen years, he has worked in Afghanistan, Benin, Burundi, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Logan acts as a consultant for governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, seeking to create bridges between research and practice.
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