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Lathyrism is a disorder of the central motor system, induced by heavy consumption of the grass-pea, Lathyrus sativus an environmentally tolerant legume containing the neurotoxic excitatory amino acid beta-N-oxalylamino-L-alanine (BOAA). A complete door-to-door resurvey of the Dembia and Fogera regions of northwestern Ethiopia, areas endemic for lathyrism, revealed an estimated mean disease prevalence of 0.6%-2.9%. Most patients developed the disease in the epidemic of 1976/77, although new cases appear to have occurred with an estimated mean annual incidence of 1.7:10,000. Production and consumption of grass-pea is increasing in Ethiopia, making attempts to develop low-BOAA strains to prevent lathyrism increasingly important.

While early attempts at land titling in Africa were often unsuccessful, the need to secure land rights has kindled renewed interest, in view of increased demand for land, a range of individual and communal rights available under new laws, and reduced costs from combining information technology with participatory methods. We used a difference-in-difference approach to assess the effects of a low-cost land registration program in Ethiopia, which covered some 20 million plots over five years, on investment. Despite policy constraints, the program increased land-related investment and yielded benefits significantly above the cost of implementation.