A green revolution in sub‐Saharan Africa? The transformation of Ethiopia's agricultural sector

Till, Emelie Rohne

doi:10.1002/jid.3523

Cited by 20 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…However, when writing this paper, Ethiopia faces a political rift that has led to civil war, making the future uncertain (Walsh and Dahir, 2021;Ylönen, 2021). As a result, some western donor countries are undertaking evidence-based analysis of the country's fragility to make informed bilateral relations and investment policies for the future (Rameshshanker et al, 2020).…”

Section: Against the Grain: The Emergence Of Pssds And Its Implementation Pathwaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Politics of Seed in Ethiopia's Agricultural Transformation: Pathways to Seed System Development

Mulesa

2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Seed system development in the developing world, especially in Africa, has become a political space. This article analyzes current Ethiopian seed politics in light of the historical dynamics of national and international seed system politics and developments. Drawing on multiple power analysis approaches and employing the lens of “international seed regimes,” the article characterizes the historical pattern of seed regimes in Ethiopia. While colonial territories underwent three historical seed regime patterns—the first colonial seed regime, the second post-WWII public seed regime, and the third post-1980s corporate-based neoliberal seed regime, Ethiopia has only experienced one of these. Until the 1950s, when the first US government's development assistance program—the Point 4 Program—enabled the second government-led seed regime to emerge, the farmers' seed systems remained the only seed innovation and supply system. The first colonial seed regime never took hold as the country remained uncolonized, and the government has hitherto resisted the third corporate-based neoliberal seed regime. In the current conjuncture in the contemporary Ethiopian seed regime, four different approaches to pluralistic seed system development are competing: (1) government-led formalization, (2) private-led formalization, (3) farmer-based localization, and (4) community-based integrative seed system developments. The Pluralistic Seed System Development Strategy (PSSDS) from 2013 is a uniquely diverse approach to seed system development internationally; however, it has yet to realize its equity and sustainability potential. This study shows that the agricultural modernization dependency and government-led formal seed systems development have sidelined opportunities to tap into the strength of other alternatives identified in the PSSDS. In conclusion, an integrative and inclusive seed sector is possible if the government takes leadership and removes the current political, organizational, and economic barriers for developing a truly pluralistic seed system.

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Section: Against the Grain: The Emergence Of Pssds And Its Implementation Pathwaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Politics of Seed in Ethiopia's Agricultural Transformation: Pathways to Seed System Development

Mulesa

2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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“…Finally, we note that as a globally important centre of crop diversity and domestication with a regionally unique climate, Ethiopia may not be widely representative of trends in other countries or regions. Indeed, the stability of indigenous agroecosystems in our study may be partly due to the comparatively minimal extent of colonial era agri‐polices, partly shielding Ethiopia from the effects of mid‐20th century green‐revolution influenced interventions (Till, 2021) and subsequent commercial crop specialisation (Merlos & Hijmans, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Indigenous crop diversity maintained despite the introduction of major global crops in an African centre of agrobiodiversity

Rampersad

Geto

Samuel

et al. 2023

Plants People Planet

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Societal Impact StatementThe global success and expansion of a small pool of major crops, including rice, wheat and maize, risks homogenising global agriculture. Focusing on the agriculturally diverse Ethiopian Highlands, this study tested whether farm diversity tends to be lower among farmers who grow more introduced crops. Surprisingly, it was found that farmers have successfully integrated introduced crops, resulting in more diverse and heterogenous farms without negatively impacting indigenous crop diversity. This is encouraging because diverse farms, comprising indigenous agricultural systems supplemented by introduced crops, may help address global challenges such as food insecurity.Summary The global expansion of a handful of major crops risks eroding indigenous crop diversity and homogenising agroecosystems, with significant consequences for sustainable and resilient food systems. Here, we investigate the farm‐scale impact of introduced crops on indigenous agroecosystems. We surveyed 1369 subsistence farms stratified across climate gradients in the Ethiopian Highlands, a hotspot of agrobiodiversity, to characterise the richness and cultivated area of the 83 edible crops they contained. We further categorise these crops as being indigenous to Ethiopia, or introduced across three different eras. We apply non‐metric multidimensional scaling and mixed effects modelling to characterise agroecosystem composition across farms with different proportions of introduced crops. Crops from different periods do not differ significantly in frequency or abundance across farms. Among geographically matched pairs of farms, those with higher proportions of modern introduced crops had significantly higher overall crop richness. Furthermore, farms with a high proportion of modern introduced crops showed higher heterogeneity in crop composition. An analysis of socio‐economic drivers indicated that poverty is negatively associated with the cultivated area of introduced crops. In our Ethiopian case study, global patterns of major crop expansion are not necessarily associated with agrobiodiversity loss at the farm scale or higher homogeneity across indigenous agricultural systems. Importantly, socioeconomic factors may influence farmers' propensity to adopt novel species, suggesting targets for agricultural extension policies. Given the rapid climatic, economic and demographic changes impacting global food systems and the threats to food security these entail, robust indigenous agricultural systems enriched with diverse introduced crops may help maintain resilience.

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“…28 However, the most pronounced increases and highest yields have been in the western highlands of Oromiya and Amhara, where rainfall and soil quality are most favourable. Consequently, several assessments of the agricultural sector have proclaimed Ethiopia's success in achieving a 'Green Revolution' (Moller 2015, Mellor and Malik 2017, Bachewe et al 2018, Dercon and Gollin 2019, Taffesse 2019, Rohne Till 2021. Despite growing evidence of productivity growth, however, the distributive implications of these changes have received very limited attention.…”

Section: Advisory Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethiopia’s ‘Developmental State’

Lavers

2023

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Ethiopia stands out as a leading example of state-led development in Africa. Tom Lavers offers in this book a comprehensive, multi-sector analysis of Ethiopia's development project, examining how regimes maintain power during the extended periods required to bring about economic transformation. Specifically, Lavers explores how the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF, 1991-2019) sought to maintain political order through economic transformation, and why the party collapsed, leading to the outbreak of civil war in 2020. The book argues that the EPRDF sought to secure mass acquiescence through distribution of land and employment. However, rapid population growth and the limits of industrial policy in the contemporary global economy led to a distributive crisis that was a central factor in the regime's collapse. This Ethiopian experience raises important questions about the prospects for economic transformation elsewhere on the continent. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core at doi.org/9781009428316.

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A green revolution in sub‐Saharan Africa? The transformation of Ethiopia's agricultural sector

Cited by 20 publications

References 71 publications

Politics of Seed in Ethiopia's Agricultural Transformation: Pathways to Seed System Development

Politics of Seed in Ethiopia's Agricultural Transformation: Pathways to Seed System Development

Indigenous crop diversity maintained despite the introduction of major global crops in an African centre of agrobiodiversity

Ethiopia’s ‘Developmental State’

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