Understanding diversity in farming practices in Tigray, Ethiopia

Summary The management of soils is an important issue for policy makers in Ethiopia. However,most of the interventions designed to conserve these resources have fallen short of theexpectations they aroused, performing impressively in the short run, but provingunsustainable on a long-term basis. There are no simple explanations for the failure ofthese interventions to reverse soil degradation, but it has been evident for some timethat there is an uneasy connection between ‘objective’ assessments of the environmentand the way that this information is used in the policy making processes. It is now widelyaccepted that understanding the processes of soil degradation is not simply a matter ofanalysing changes in the stock of physical and nutrient capital. While studies of nutrientbalances are an important complement to research into soil erosion and landdegradation, they need to be considered in the context of other social, cultural andpolitical factors. This paper presents the results of a study undertaken in Tigray, Ethiopia, exploring localpeople’s perceptions and understanding of their land resources, and the way that theirviews influence natural resource management. Farmers distinguish three different typesof plots, which are managed in very different ways according to the agricultural andsocial value attached to them. Although farming activities may seem to be determinedsolely by the physical properties of fields, our findings indicate that land use is shapedby historical processes and local cultural values, and that the management strategiesadopted by farmers are influenced by a broad range of factors. These include history oftenure and patterns of inheritance, investment in a plot, and the sense of place, identityand attachment to a locality that develops over time as generations pass through thesame family dwelling. Land users in Tigray do not consider arable land purely in termsof its agricultural value. The cultural and social meanings attributed to specific areas also play an important rolein the physical condition of fields, and the manner in which farmers engage with theirsurroundings may explain why certain plots are still ‘good’, despite having beencontinuously cultivated by successive generations. It also accounts for local resistance tosome types of land distribution and acceptance of others. Policy makers therefore needto pay more attention to the relationships between people and land, and to the valuethat farmers attach to different fields and plots. Our findings have significantimplications for policies on agricultural extension and land redistribution, and for on-farm research, as the type of plot used to test technologies will have a significant impacton the outcome of trials.