Agropastoralism in Transition: Comparison of Trajectories of Two Communities in Oromia and the Southern Region
p. 441-460
Texte intégral
1This paper compares trajectories of two food-insecure agro-pastoral sites: Gelcha in Eastern Oromia inhabited by Karrayu, and Luqa in South Omo in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) in Tsamay territory. The sites are part of the WIDE (Wellbeing Illbeing Dynamics in Ethiopia) project studying longitudinal changes in 20 Ethiopian rural communities since the mid-1990s. The other 18 sites were part of the Ethiopian Rural Household Survey for which baseline data are available from the mid-1990s. To include a couple of pastoralist sites with background data, these two were selected since they were studied by Ethiopian anthropologists, in the later half of the 1990s1. Some further baseline data were collected in 2003 and research upon which an understanding of the current context is built was carried out 2010 in six sites (Bevan, Dom, Pankhurst 2010) and in late 2011 and early 2012 in 12 sites2.
2Following this introduction section 2 outlines contexts of rapid change from the second half of the 20th century based on anthropological accounts, followed by a comparison of salient similarities and differences. Section 3 presents a picture of the villages in 2012 identifying changes since the late 1990s. Trajectories of the two sites are compared mainly in terms of livelihoods but also briefly considering society and government and women’s conditions. Section 4 compares potential future prospects of the sites.
Gelcha (Oromia) and Luqa (SNNP) among the WIDE sites

Map designed by A. Pankhurst.
Historical context and transformations until the late 1990s
Gelcha: A Karrayu site in Eastern Oromia3
3Gelcha is a kebele in Fantalle Wereda, Eastern Shewa Zone of Oromia Region, inhabited mainly by Karrayu, who migrated from around Borana in the 16th century reaching the current Fantalle area some 200 years ago, and pursued a pastoralist lifestyle until the mid-20th century. Major livelihood changes resulted largely from external interventions from the mid-1960s. Inter-linked factors of external investment, resource-based interethnic conflicts, gradual sendentarisation and greater market integration brought about transformations in the economy and social organisation leading to multiple marginalisations over three decades.
4The establishment of the Metahara Sugar Estate in 1965 led to loss of crucial dry season grazing, burial and sacred sites, and watering points. Karrayu protested but did not receive compensation and there have been clashes over the years, though some Karrayu have obtained employment as guards and others as seasonal labourers.
5The Awash National Park was established in 1968 on about 50% of Karrayu grazing lands. Karrayu protests to the Emperor led to land compensation promises which never materialised; Karrayu settlements within the boundary were destroyed, and fines have been imposed for livestock entering the park. Karrayu lost valuable watering sites, access to dry season grazing, and migration routes, leading to conflicts especially in drought years.
6The expropriation of about 60% of Karrayu territory by the park and plantations has increased resource based competition with neighbouring groups notably Ittu, Arsi Oromo, Afar, Argobba and Amhara, particularly in the context of in-migration of Ittu and Somali groups.
7The sedentarisation of Karrayu and their involvement in agriculture came in response to inter-related factors including loss of land to investments, reduced pasture and land pressure with in-migration of other groups, limitations to seasonal migration in search of pasture with increased inter-ethnic conflict and more permanent settlements in wet season grazing areas due to borehole construction, competition from urban-based herding, and in-migrating Ittus’ and town-based Minjar Amhara’s involvement in agriculture and livestock rearing.
8Though some poorer pastoralists losing stock settled earlier, permanent settlements began in earnest in the 1970s. Enclosures of land for agriculture (qonno) and grazing (kello) led to spontaneous privatisation, tenure regime changes and increased pressure on communal grazing. Karrayu formed the Akake development association in response to threat of land enclosures by external investors and in-migrants and sought but did not succeed to deal with investors.
9Karrayu became more integrated into the market economy largely as a result of development interventions since the 1960s, establishment of Metahara and Haro Adi towns, and influx of in-migrant plantation workers. With decreasing herds, recurrent drought and sedentarisation Karrayu rely more on grain and increased sale of livestock to purchase food and consumer goods. Non-agricultural income sources are limited. Though the plantations mainly employ highlanders, Karrayu are engaged as guards and seasonal labourers, and impoverished pastoralists seek alternative livelihoods preparing charcoal, and as urban labourers, and women have become involved in market activities. Processes of sedentarisation and market integration have also led to greater differentiation with the rich better able to keep a foot in both pastoral and sedentary livelihoods.
Luqa: A Tsamay site in the Southern Region
10Luqa is a kebele in Bena-Tsamay wereda of South Omo Zone in the SNNP Region.4 According to genealogical reckoning Tsamay have lived in the Weyto valley for at least 350 years. Luqa area was settled some 70 years ago, though the current kebele centre was established in the late 1970s when the road from Arba Minch to Jinka was built. There are more than a dozen ethnic groups in the Weyto and Omo valleys and Tsamay, who number about 10,000, have close relations with neighbouring groups notably Banna, Gewada, Birale, Maale, Hamar, Hor, Borana and Konso, involving marital exchanges, bond-friendships and mutual secondary access to pasture and water resources, and sometimes conflict, recently mainly with Konso in-migrants to the Weyto valley.
11Water was a major constraint on settlement. From the 1940s one individual and then some agnatic groups started digging ponds, and engaging in flood recession hoe-based shifting agriculture with ditches to drain water to fields and ponds. Land access depended on belonging to territorial groups and investing labour in clearing fields. Other sources of livelihood included gathering wild foods, honey and hunting, and collecting incense. Tsamay allowed others secondary land and water access rights and also obtained use rights elsewhere through marital alliances and bond friendships especially during dry season transhumance.
12A major transformation resulted from adopting plough cultivation, started by a Gewada migrant in the 1970s, rapidly spreading, increasing cultivated areas, resulting in land pressure and decline in communal woodlands. Elders sought to regulate resource use including distribution of irrigated and flood recession land and in 1992 attempted to ban tree cutting. Agriculture remains erratic and cultivation precarious with under 600 ml of rainfall annually. Reliance on livestock5 and gathering wild foods are crucial, wild produce constituting up to a third of the diet.
13A second major change came with allocation of 400 hectares on the Weyto River to a private investor growing cotton. The dam resulted in loss of flood recession agriculture and wet season grazing reserves. Tsamay were denied river access and livestock trespassing were fined 30-50 birr leading to resentment and clashes; promises of free access to crop residues did not materialise. The farm cleared land without leaving large trees unlike customary practice. In compensation 100 hectares were provided in exchange for payments, though much of the land was not fertile, the estate controlled the flow, and those who did not receive land felt excluded. Spraying of pesticides affected flora and honey production dropped. The farm attracted migrant workers from Konso and the Southern highlands. Only three Tsamay were employed.The Tsamay ‘priest’ and a few others were given incentives to promote the farm’s aims undermining their legitimacy. In 1995 after a calf that strayed into the settlement violence erupted leading to death of 18 people on both sides, souring relations.
14A settlement of migrants emerged and the area is increasingly deforested with trees used for housing, and migrants introducing charcoal production. Large numbers of male migrants also attracted commercial sex workers. A market emerged and Tsamay were selling beer, smallstock, butter, grain and gourds.
Comparing major similarities and differences
15In both Gelcha and Luqa pastoralism has long been a major part of livelihoods and societal values, and both have undergone considerable changes internally and due to external influences and development interventions with processes of increased involvement in agriculture, sedentarisation, market integration and differentiation. Involvement in agriculture and establishment of settlements began in the mid 20th century and became important in the 1970s, in Luqa largely due to adoption of plough agriculture first introduced by a Gawada migrant, and in Gelcha in response to settlement and farming by migrant Ittu and Harar Oromo, and Somali. Agricultural and grazing land enclosures have increasingly undermined communal tenure regimes. In Gelcha this was partly as protection against in-migrants’ land use.
16Both Karrayu and Tsamay have pastoralist values depending on livestock though the former have camels as well as cattle and shoats whereas camels have only recently been introduced in Luqa. Tsamay have had longer involvement in flood recession agriculture and relied on gathering and hunting.
17Both groups have agnatic exogamous clans and wider groupings into two sections as well as generation and age-set forms of politico-ritual organisation, with senior age-sets holding power and younger groups of youth involved in seasonal transhumance. The political role of age-grading institutions has given way to state incorporation processes but they have retained cultural roles.
18Despite similarities there are three important differences in relation to external impacts. First, Gelcha is closer to the Ethiopian state centre on the Djibouti road and in the Awash Valley coveted for irrigated development since the 1960s, whereas Luqa is much more remote in South Omo and remained isolated much longer; an all-weather road reached the area only in the late 1970s and irrigated development began in the Weyto valley from the early 1990s. Thus processes of incorporation into the national economy and pastoralist marginalisation show similarities but with a time lag of some 30 years in the remoter site.
19Second, Gelcha was surrounded and affected by external development to a much greater extent over longer. The Awash National Park reduced Karrayu grazing areas by half, and the sugar plantation alienated vital dry season grazing, reduced access to the river and water points, and imposed fines for livestock trespassing. Conflict with the park and plantation have been ongoing with serious incidents from the outset and a standing peace committee involving elders. However, the plantation has provided labour for guards, access to cane residues, controlled use of outflow water, access to water from a camp settlement, and to schooling and health facilities for employees. In contrast Luqa is relatively far from the Omo and Mago parks and somewhat removed from the Weyto valley and irrigated development there, though other sites studied by Melese (2009) closer to the river have been affected much more seriously involving loss of customary irrigation and grazing areas, clearing of land, denial of access to the river, spraying of pesticides affecting honey production, and fines for trespassing. Thus Gelcha was ‘in the thick of it’ whereas Luqa was more of an ‘onlooker’.
20Third, the size and scale of external interventions in relation to local context was different. The Awash is a major river and irrigated development was extensive. In contrast the Weyto is a much smaller river, and irrigated development was limited.6 Karrayu numbered some 50,000 in the 1994 census whereas Tsamay were about 10,000. There were over 1,000 Karrayu working on the sugar estate but only three Tsamay on the cotton farm. Thus Gelcha by the 1990s had gone through major change with multifarious losses and accommodations, whereas Luqa was only beginning to feel impacts of external influences, though sites closer to the Weyto bore the brunt of effects of commercial agriculture.
The situation in 2012 and changes since the late 1990s
Gelcha
21a. Livelihood Changes: The main ecological change was expansion of Lake Beseka submerging land used for grazing and irrigation, affecting ground water making it salty with a high fluoride content. The lake also swamped a school and cut off roads. A discharge canal was viewed as dangerous for children and small animals, and bridges across the canal cannot support vehicles and require seasonal maintenance. Respondents suggested that the main rainy season has become shorter, with rains more intense, starting and stopping earlier and winds have become stronger.
22Conservation work in terracing and watershed management using food for work through the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) was appreciated primarily for the food. Karrayu had traditional rules discouraging tree cutting; awareness on deforestation risks was promoted by Development Agents (DAs) notably in the context of Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) meetings, and militias try to protect forests. However, there is demand for charcoal from urban areas and beyond and poor people resort to this in secret as a survival strategy. Women had to go further in search of fuelwood. DAs promote enclosing grazing areas which has increased, though it creates conflicts over trespassing livestock and further reduces communal grazing. The community was told to respect the Park area; however in dry seasons and droughts people need pasture, leading to fines and conflicts with incidents even involving killings either side; a permanent committee was set up to resolve conflicts presided by the Abba Gada.
23Settlement has become denser with increasing population, involvement in agriculture, wage labour in the sugar estate and further in-migration of Harar Oromo and Somali. Two settlements of in-migrants one Somali and other Oromo from Harar, began irrigation using the estate’s discharge canal. Land enclosed by town-based Minjar Amhara was confiscated and given to Karrayu but later returned to them. Agriculture has expanded and about a fifth of the kebele land is used for rainfed farming, a tenth for irrigated farming, and forests represent another tenth.
24The kebele centre now has an administrative office, full cycle primary school, health post, women’s cooperative shop, teachers’ houses, store, grinding mill and NGO office; none have electricity or running water though they have latrines. There is also a Farmers’ Training Centre (FTC) used for meetings. Mobile reception started in 2009; many households have at least one mobile and communicate with relatives and townspeople, though people complain of high costs.
25Urban linkages have improved with an all-weather road from the wereda capital Metahara to Haro Adi (Addis Ketema) town, both about 5 kilometres from Gelcha. Internal roads and bridges have been improved; some Gelcha residents own carts charging five birr per person. In emergencies Bajaj mechanised three-wheelers can be hired. Some households own bicycles.
26Core livelihoods have been changing with more involvement in farming and some irrigation, though pastoralism remains vital. Rain-fed farming is precarious given rain shortage and unpredictability but gradually land enclosures for farming as well as grazing have spread. Irrigation from the sugar estate discharge canal allowed production of cash crops and some prospered but the flow is limited and sometimes stopped when not needed by the plantation. Attempts by the wereda to involve cooperative groups in irrigation with pumps at the Awash were not very successful: fuel and running costs were too high, working collectively was difficult, the main pump was rented out by the wereda to Afar, and most youth groups sharecropped out land to in-migrants. A new irrigation scheme is due to reach Gelcha and already people are trying to enclose land in anticipation.
27Farm extension and new technologies have not been useful; despite promotion and training, improved seeds and breeds are not available, though inhabitants have benefited from veterinary services at the wereda and availability of drugs on the market.
28A number of drought years particularly in 2001-2, 2004-5 and 2010 resulted in severe livestock losses, leading to food aid provision. In 2010 some households lost more than fifty cattle and many lost up to ten. The PSNP food-for-work and food aid have provided crucial buffers in recent years helping poor households overcome food shortage and avoid distress livestock sales. Community targeting included some wealthier households connected to leaders, with allegations that minority groups and women were under-represented or excluded, leading to tensions and retargeting by sub-kebele committees.
29The water situation showed some improvement in the 2000s with NGO boreholes and access to water from the plantation workers’ camp. However, the boreholes became salty with the expansion of Lake Beseka affecting groundwater and were not maintained. Drinking water remains a serious problem, with some using polluted water from the plantation outflow, others from the Awash, those living close to plantation settlements from a pipe, and some purchasing drinking water from Addis Ketema.
30Initiatives to promote women’s and youth cooperatives were sponsored by government and NGOs. The women’s grinding mill and cooperative shop failed but the livestock fattening and youth sand and stone collecting cooperatives were fairly successful, although they face competition from individuals working informally. Government credit to cooperatives stopped due to debts of former cooperatives and the NGOs have moved on.
31Market linkages increased as reliance on livestock products was affected by herd decreases; purchase of food, spices, coffee husks, chat and consumer goods has increased. With smaller herds the diet has become less milk-based; cereals have become more important as well as other foods such as pasta and rice; fish and chickens that used to be taboo are now consumed. Households increasingly purchase plastic and metal utensils.
32Recent inflation has resulted in increasing prices. A few Karrayu involved in trade suggested demand had decreased; those with salaries and pensions as guards were finding it difficult to make ends meet. Diversification involved more rainfed and irrigated agriculture, jobs and wage labour in the plantations and urban areas, and non-farm activities -mainly youth stone and sand cooperatives.
33b. Changes in society and government: The role of clan leaders and elders remains strong notably in dispute resolution. Clans are involved in arranging bridewealth and blood money. The wereda administration appreciates the clans’ role in dispute resolution. However, attempts by clans to punish members for breaking social norms, sometimes involving flogging and dunking in the Awash, have been opposed as infringements of individual rights. The wereda administration has sought to involve local leaders in settling disputes with the park and the plantation, and a permanent peace committee with the Park is chaired by the ritual leader, the Abba Gada.
34Muslim and Gada religious leaders also play key societal roles. Wahabi preachers have become more influential in Koranic schools and mosques. This led to women wearing scarves and boys avoiding trousers, and controversies regarding the number of daily prayers; the wereda supported the traditionalists against the new preachers. Though political influence of the Gada system was eroded there was a resurgence of Gada cultural practices. The Gebella age-set rituals which took place in 2011 and 2012 were celebrated with interest from local and regional administration and media and support mustered by the Abba Gada from local businessmen.
35Regarding extension services, there are now more workers acting as go-betweens in promoting change, with teachers for the school and kindergartens, two DAs, one for crops and the other for livestock, and two Health Extension Workers (HEWs). The DAs and HEWs are from the same wereda and one HEW is from Gelcha itself; they tend to commute from town.
36The formal kebele structure involves the new position of kebele manager, an employed official from the community, the kebele administration with the chairman and cabinet and the kebele council with 300 members which last met a year ago.
37Below the kebele there are three zones and below these garé development teams with about 30 households; at the lowest level the recent 1-5 network structure of six households with a leader is used to mobilise labour for community work. There are about 200 EPRDF members and the party structure goes from kebele to zone and cell levels.
38Regarding security there are 20 militias but no community policeman.7 The social court’s jurisdiction was restricted but it was involved in land boundary disputes. Gelcha residents are not keen on going to the wereda court and police and there have been allegations of bribery. However, the militia recently cooperated with wereda police to catch car thieves on the main road going past Gelcha. Most disputes continue to be resolved by elders. Livestock theft by unemployed youngsters selling them to hotels and traders has increased. More widely periodic incidents with Afar and Ittu over livestock raiding continue, though peace was made with Arsi Oromo.
39c. Changes in women’s conditions: Despite resistance from prevailing patriarchal conservative values, women’s positions in society have been changing particularly among the younger generation and for politically active and entrepreneurial women.
40In terms of livelihoods some women have been able to gain a degree of independence through involvement in small-scale trade and sale of livestock products, food and beverages. NGO sponsored income-generation activities for women through cooperatives did not work well though loans were useful especially for livestock fattening. A women’s cooperative with a grinding mill failed so that grain needs to be taken by horse cart to towns. Due to deforestation women have to go further to collect wood and cane residue for livestock from the plantation. Water wells built by NGOs no longer function and drinking water is brought by women from ponds, the river, outlet canal and for those close to the plantation settlement from a pipe there, while others buy water from town transporting it by cart or bicycle. The gender division of labour has hardly changed; women carry out the bulk of domestic work, build traditional houses, (though now men are building houses following in-migrants using mud and some employ skilled builders), engage in agriculture and some of the work looking after livestock. Children and especially girls going to school increased women’s burden particularly tending livestock. Girls help mothers if not at school or after school and some boys bring water by bicycle, herd livestock, sometimes collect firewood, but do not engage in domestic work, though older boys sometimes fry eggs from themselves.
41Politically, despite some formal measures and attempts to organise them, women still have limited involvement in community affairs, apart from a handful of politically active women. There is a woman wereda councillor; a women’s association was already established in 2001 and a woman’s league recently but neither are functional. However, women are now able to talk with men and attend meetings unlike previously when they were even supposed to avoid passing men.
42Women have benefited from interventions in health; two women HEWs commute to the health post from the nearby town, uptake of mother and child services has increased, and contraception is promoted with NGO and government support. There was a significant increase in girls’ education with a primary school in the kebele and kindergartens in the three zones. Out of 20 students who took the 8th grade national exams in 2011 five were girls. Very few have gone on to university or private colleges. There are also girls attending quranic education. Children want to go to school and are resisting herding. Though there are few employment opportunities young women (the health extension worker is from the community and completed grade 10) exposure to education for girls is gradually affecting their ability to make their own decisions notably on marital choice.
43Culturally, some marriage customs are being questioned including parental choice of partner, early marriage, abduction, bridewealth, widow inheritance, and polygyny, especially marrying young girls to older men as second wives. Some women are resisting these customs and have been able to insist on divorce, though conservative repertoires are still strong, and women resisting often cannot obtain a share of property and are not allowed to remarry. Muslim education for girls, and wearing of scarves is gaining ground. Female circumcision is strongly believed in and continues to be practiced by most despite promotion against it by NGOs and government through women’s organisations and schools.
Luqa
44a. Livelihood changes: Forested areas and bushland have been increasingly cleared for farming and wildlife has decreased. Traditional natural resources management and the kebele administration with DAs try to prevent tree-cutting though there is limited enforcement. Farming encroachment was stopped from Ero grazing area with concerted efforts of elders and kebele officials. An area of 260 hectares on Oro Dangere mountain was demarcated for protection by DAs; bunds were constructed with food-for-work; grass regenerated and some spring water was observed. A youth cooperative was allocated rights to collect incense and resin in exchange for protecting the area, which some people try to use despite the prohibition.
45Terracing was organised along Dengogo hills. The community worked for four days a month and over 250 people participated under the DA through their new structure of 1-5 groups. Check dams were constructed and some improvements were reported by the DA. She noted, however, that there was poor participation and limited willingness to work without food aid and that quality of the work was questionable.
46The climate is said to be changing with temperatures increasing, streams drying up, rains becoming more erratic and sometimes stopping early, resulting in frequent droughts and pastoralists having to go further in search of grazing. Reliance on agriculture is becoming more problematic, with less rainwater bringing fertile soils to fields. In 2010 a severe drought led to serious crop losses; many people migrated to neighbouring kebeles in search of grass and water for livestock. Malaria remains a constant threat with a serious outbreak in 2011.
47Settlement density has increased during the EPRDF period with people leaving the hilly areas and moving down to the flat land especially near the kebele centre.8 The recently completed asphalt road from Arba Minch to Jinka attracted house building and a few shops along the main road over the past three years especially near the centre.
48The kebele centre has an office, first cycle primary school, health post, women’s cooperative shop, store, teachers’ and other extension workers’ houses, NGO office, church and private grinding mill. A veterinary post is under construction; residents brought wood to construct a FTC. Internal roads link the seven sub-kebeles, though they require seasonal maintenance.
49There is no electricity in the village except for the solar panel in the kebele office used to power the telephone and charge mobile phones. The telephone worked for two years from 2008 until the kebele did not settle bills. Mobile reception is available on higher ground 10 to 15 kilometres away; many households have mobiles communicating with relatives and townspeople in emergencies and traders find out about prices and arrange transport of goods. People also enjoy listening to music on mobiles.
50Urban linkages improved since the main road was asphalted and transport has become available. People used to walk to Key Afer market even for minor items spending the night, incurring expenses. Now they can travel on back of trucks or by minibus, paying 10 birr to new town at Weyto and 15 birr to Key Afer returning the same day. There is a new weekly Friday market. People sell livestock, butter, cereals (maize and sorghum), vegetables such as tomatoes and aleko (Moringa leaves), sur (a snuff-like stimulant), cheqa (a local beer), wood, charcoal, and handicrafts. In recent years traders began to buy goats and sesame, a new cash crop. People also go to Key Afer to the health centre and a private clinic in Weyto and students to the hostel for pastoralist children in Key Afer.
51The core livelihood system has also been changing with more farming involving digging ditches to fields to collect flood water. According to Kebele statistics out of 1,489 hectares about 35% is used for farming, 20% for forest and 11% for private grazing enclosures. Of the remainder 18% could be used for farming, 19% is infertile and 6% bushland. However, farming is precarious and livestock and transhumant pastoralism remain vital for livelihoods. Some enterprising households have been able to acquire irrigated land at the Weyto River.
52Extension services sought to introduce improved maize and sorghum varieties in the early 2000s but the community preferred their own varieties, and seeds were provided too late. In 2011 some farmers obtained improved seeds and fertiliser at the Weyto irrigation; some grew fruits notably mangoes and bananas. The most important innovation was introduction of sesame as a cash crop which people bought from people irrigating at the Weyto after agricultural experts mentioned the high market value.
53Borana camels were introduced by an NGO on credit and have begun to be used for milk and meat but not yet for transport. Borana cattle were also introduced on credit and are popular. Debts for improved goat varieties provided by extension services had not been paid back and introduced Wolayta chickens were liked by some but were said to be susceptible to disease and quarrelsome.
54The area is drought prone;9 recent serious droughts were reported in 2008/9 and 2010/11, and many livestock died. Although the wereda, unlike others in the zone, was not classified as eligible for PSNP support, food aid was provided; households resorted to selling livestock especially goats to buy grain, and borrowed grain mainly from relatives. There was flooding in 2010 resulting in crops losses, and pests affected crops in 2006/07.
55The water situation improved with several NGO and government built boreholes. However, several are not working and maintenance remains a problem; in contrast traditional ponds are well managed and maintained by localised social groups.
56Women’s and youth cooperatives were promoted with NGO support. The women’s cooperative had a shop and grinding mill and sold food and drink but failed, though a women’s cooperative providing loans for livestock was fairly successful. A youth cooperative is involved in livestock trade and another in protecting an enclosed area to harvest incense.
57Commercial farming has increased on the Weyto River. There are now two more investors and investors are using about 7,300 hectares between them. Luqa residents go regularly to the Weyto market. Market linkages have increased mainly due to the newly asphalted road, creation of a market in the centre and easier access to Key Afer and Weyto markets. A few Tsamay are involved in livestock trade. Those producing sesame as a cash crop have done well. People are worried about increases in grain prices, and items such as soap, salt, batteries for lamps, matchboxes, and clothing. There is very little diversification and virtually no wage labour locally. A few traders employ assistants and the destitute sometimes work for richer households.
58c. Changes in society and government: The elders and clan leaders play important societal roles especially in dispute resolution and life cycle rituals particularly men’s initiation and reburial rites. The wereda appreciates the elders’ role involving them in initiatives such as banning harmful traditional practices, but is wary of their involvement in gender-related cases.
59Most Luqa inhabitants are believers in traditional religion though Protestants converts notably to the Kale Hiwot Church, have been gaining ground since the mid-1990s, after some fierce resistance -the earliest convert being flogged -and now represent about 15%, with increasing youth conversions.
60There are more extension workers acting as go-betweens in promoting change, with teachers for the school, two DAs one for crops and the other for NRM, and two HEWs (one still to be assigned) and a vet. Both DAs are women, one coming from the zone and the other from the wereda, and the HEW and vet who is also female are also from the same wereda.
61The formal kebele structure involves the new position of kebele manager as an employed official (the current one is from the community and completed grade 5), the kebele administration with the chairman who is no longer salaried, the cabinet, and the kebele council with 200 council members (29% women), which is supposed to meet every three months but last met after the 2010 elections.
62Below the kebele seven villages have development teams and below them 1-5 networks of six households have a leader, a structure established in 2010 after the GTP meeting to encourage development. Almost all households were said to be EPRDF party members.
63Regarding security recently a community policeman was assigned though some people did not know; there are militias at sub-kebele level though they are not armed. The social court had its jurisdiction curtailed; it is not considered very effective but settled some disputes notably over land. However, most disputes are resolved by elders and clans. There was an increase in fights in the market place after men drink alcohol. More widely, conflict with Konso over land by the Weyto has continued.
64d. Changes in women’s conditions: Despite resistance from conservative patriarchal values, there have been changes for some women, especially among the younger generation and some enterprising and politically active women. Some women have earned income as traders selling food and beverages or fattening livestock for sale. Some benefited from NGO loans for small businesses. Two private grinding mills have reduced women’s work though some still grind grain manually. Five water points, two of which are functioning, one of which has a wind vane built by an NGO have reduced time fetching water though maintenance is a problem, and those living far from the centre rely on ponds.
65The gender division of labour has hardly changed; women carry out the bulk of domestic work and engage in weeding, harvesting, and some work looking after livestock (though not milking). Girls help mothers if not at school or afterwards and boys not at school herd, but boys do not engage in domestic work though older ones may cook eggs from themselves.
66Politically, despite formal measures and attempts to organise women, their roles in the community remain limited, apart from a handful of few politically active women. Out of 200 councillors only 58 are women. There is a woman in charge of women’s and children’s affairs in the cabinet who is also the deputy speaker. The women’s association is not functional and the league has not been established.
67Women have benefited from the health centre (downgraded to a health post) with a female HEW, and some mother and child services, and contraception usage was already reported in 2003. Girls’ education has benefited from the new primary school (grades 1-4) and UNICEF providing incentives of food for girls attending regularly. Beyond grade 4 there is a hostel for pastoralist children in the wereda town. Only a few girls have attended, some escaping abduction or the custom of abandoning mingi children believed to bring back luck. There are, however, very few opportunities for boys let alone girls to find employment. Several female extension workers from the wereda and zone, including two DAs, a vet and a HEW no doubt serve as role models.
68Culturally, patriarchal values are still very strong and women are married off in exchange for bridewealth. However, with girls’ education, wereda influence in opposing gender-based harmful traditional practices and spread of Protestantism, customs of early marriage, abduction, bridewealth, widow inheritance, and young women marrying older men as second wives are being challenged. However, women divorcing or refusing widow inheritance cannot obtain property or remarry. There is no custom of female circumcision among Tsamay, and pre-marital sexual relations are allowed, though women have to abort if they become pregnant prior to marriage or the child will be considered mingi bringing bad luck and abandoned. There was success in opposing this practice with government and NGO advocacy involving customary leaders.
Comparing major similarities and differences
Comparing livelihoods
69Regarding the ecology in both sites respondents suggest that the rains have become more erratic and the rainy seasons shorter starting later and ending earlier. Both sites have also been prone to serious droughts, most recently in 2010, depleting livestock and triggering the provision of food aid. While Gelcha is part of the PSNP programme, Luqa is in a wereda which has not been included.
70Despite customary natural resource management rules for water and tree use, increasing population and settlement has led to deforestation and in both cases private grazing and increased cultivation is undermining communal tenure regimes. However, in Luqa community elders and the kebele have been fairly successful so far in resisting infringement on grazing land.
71Interventions for conservation using food for work were more popular for the food with limited interest in the work, though in Luqa a protected area seemed to be regenerating and was given to a youth group to protect and exploit for incense.
72Gelcha faces serious problems of water shortage and pollution, and Luqa water shortage in areas far from the centre. Gelcha faces the added challenge of the Lake Beseka expansion reducing available land and affecting groundwater and irrigation potential so that depending on where they live people use water from ponds, the Awash, polluted discharge from the plantation, from a settlement pipe or purchase water from the town.
73Regarding settlement in both cases there was increasing density, though in Gelcha this was largely due to influx of Ittu, Harar Oromo and Somali in-migrants becoming involved in agriculture some intermarrying and incorporated through clan adoption. In Luqa Tsamay allow migrants secondary access to resources; given labour shortages Tsamay men often marry additional Banna wives, though apart from a few Gewada there are no established groups of migrants unlike the Ittu and Harar Oromo and Somali in Gelcha.
74Major changes in both sites are the development of kebele centres with administrative offices, schools, health posts, extension workers’ housing, grinding mills, stores and NGO offices. This was more rapid and is likely to change faster in Luqa since the centre is on the newly completed asphalt road.
75The mobile network has transformed communications with relatives and business contacts in town, though in Luqa the coverage currently only reaches certain parts away from the centre. Transport to towns has also improved, with horse carts and bajaj available in Gelcha and lories and minibuses in Luqa.
76Livelihoods still depend on livestock and pastoralism. Rain-fed agriculture has increased but remains precarious, though there is more potential for rain-fed flood recession cultivation in Luqa with sesame becoming a cash crop and more irrigation in Gelcha from the plantation discharge canal; the Weyto is further in the case of Luqa and only a few have managed to obtain irrigated land. In both cases some of those with irrigation have done fairly well. Agricultural extension and improved seeds have not been very useful in either case, though in Luqa improved breeds of camels and cattle have been popular.
77There was promotion of women’s and youth cooperatives with NGO support in both cases, though with limited success apart from livestock fattening in Luqa and sand and stone extraction in Gelcha.
78Both sites have become more integrated into the market purchasing more food and limited consumer goods; a few men have become involved in trading livestock and a few women in small-scale trade.
Comparing society and government
79Both sites had strong customary belief system linked to age and generation grading institutions and exogamous clans linked to wider groupings that are involved in arranging life cycle celebrations notably marriages and securing bridewealth, youth initiation and in Luqa reburials, as well as in conflict resolution particularly relating to bloodwealth payments.
80External religious influences were felt much earlier in Gelcha that became largely Muslim with the influence of in-migrating Ittu from the middle of the 20th century; in Luqa Protestants became active only from the mid-1990s. Whereas Gelcha is now basically Muslim and traditional practices are limited to ritual and cultural age-set ceremonies, Luqa is still largely composed of traditional religion followers though Protestantism has made rapid inroads. In Gelcha there was a split between more conservative and tolerant Muslim tendencies and more fundamentalist and stricter tendencies promoted by Wahabi preachers, with the former so far dominating with wereda support.
81Major changes in relation to go-between change agents have been involvement of more extension workers including several teachers, two DAs and two HEWs and in Luqa a vet. Several of these are women including all the HEWs by design and in Luqa the two DAs and the vet. More come from the same wereda and some of the HEWs from the kebele.
82The kebele administration was reorganised with chairmen no longer salaried and the new position of kebele managers, and kebele councils and representatives on the wereda council. The manager has become a link person with the wereda; the councils and representatives on the wereda council do not seem to be effective.
83Regarding sub-kebele organisation there are territorial sub-divisions with development teams of around 30 households and below them a new structure of 1-5 networks comprising six households including a leader, which was promoted under the GTP implementation trainings to promote mobilisation and agricultural development.
84Regarding security in both sites there are militia and in Luqa a community policeman was assigned. The jurisdiction of the social courts was restricted; they are not considered effective though they have solved land boundary disputes. In Gelcha theft of livestock and in Luqa disputes at markets after drinking have been increasing.
Comparing women’s conditions
85In both sites patriarchal values continue to predominate but there have been changes for women especially among the younger generation. Economically some enterprising women have become engaged in trade and livestock fattening, and some benefited from NGO loans. There was improvements in reducing women’s labour fetching water from boreholes and grinding grain at mills in Luqa whereas the women’s cooperative mill in Gelcha failed and the boreholes became salty and broke down. The division of labour involves women bearing the brunt of domestic as well as agricultural and some livestock work, and children going to school has increased their workload.
86Politically, women’s formal organisations have not been functional, and they have limited involvement in kebele politics except for a few active women, though women’s cooperatives have been providing loans which have been useful.
87Major changes in women’s health came from expansion of availability and use of contraception and mother and child immunisation. Girls have benefited from going to school and in Luqa there have been incentives for them to do so, though few proceed beyond primary school which in Luqa involves going to the hostel in the wereda town, and fewer to secondary or tertiary education let alone obtaining opportunities of employment. However, role models of female extension workers and wider benefits of education about gender issues, notably on women’s rights and marital choices are beginning to have an impact.
88Culturally, bridewealth has become less important and parental decision-making on marital choices is beginning to be challenged. Girls are also resisting being married off as second wives to older men, undermining the practice of polygamy. The custom of widow inheritance is also being challenged and some widows refuse the practice or have sought and obtained divorces. There are still few divorce cases and rights of divorcees to property are not enforced and they are expected not to remarry. In Gelcha female circumcision is still strongly believed in, whereas in Luqa the custom is not part of the cultural repertoire. In Luqa the custom abandoning of children born before marriage and considered to bring bad luck was successfully stopped through joint action of government, NGOs and customary leaders. In Gelcha Muslim fundamentalist tendencies are leading to women wearing scarves and some girls attending quranic education.
Trends and possible future(s)
Gelcha
89Based on the current trends dependence on pastoralism is likely to continue for some time though it may decline to some extent given recurrent drought, decreasing communal pasture, limits to transhumance and possible further resource-based conflict with neighbouring groups. Enclosures for grazing and for rainfed agriculture will further undermine communal grazing, but agriculture will remain precarious given limited and erratic rainfall.
90In Gelcha irrigation potential from the sugar plantation outflow is unlikely to increase. However, a major change is the planned irrigation project from the Awash due to reach the village in 2013. This is already generating attempts to enclose land in anticipation, and is likely to result in major changes with more households engaging in irrigated agriculture or sharecropping with migrants.
91Cash crop production could bring about some prosperity and differentiation. The irrigation scheme is also expected to bring much needed clean water and electricity, which could bring about significant changes in health and wellbeing and result in Gelcha becoming more integrated in the market economy. The sand and stone extraction cooperatives could grow as long as there is enough demand and their production is not undercut by private entrepreneurs. There is likely to be further differentiation in the community as some households earn more from cash crops, and invest in other source of income such as shops and bars etc.
92Relations with the sugar plantation and park are likely to continue in a similar vein with some clashes particularly at times of drought but benefits from the plantation in terms of employment and access to cane residues. Relations could deteriorate if further irrigated expansion is undertaken or the park claims the Fantalle area that was gazetted.
93Another planned change that will bring about major transformations is the proposed incorporation of Gelcha into the Metahara town administration. The centre of Gelcha is only 5 kilometres from Metahara and already the small town of Haro Adi which used to be part of Gelcha was hived off as part of Metahara town administration. The expansion of the town could potentially lead to displacement and closer urban and market linkages.
94Changes in education for the youth and greater integration into the economy may well bring about societal change in generational and gender relations, though youth unemployment and involvement in ‘bad habits’ is a discouraging factor. Countervailing tendencies to modern urban secular influences are the increase in Muslim fundamentalist attitudes, and the cultural resurgence of conservative customary Gada age and generation grading gebella rituals. Some youth have been exposed to Protestant sects in towns.
Luqa
95In terms of livelihoods pastoralism is likely to remain important; increasing land enclosures for private grazing and for agriculture can be expected to grow and pressure on communal grazing areas which was resisted so far will increase. The recent trend of sesame production as a cash crop will probably continue assuming market prices and weather trends are conducive, possibly leading to some differentiation.
96Involvement in irrigation at the Weyto may increase despite the distance as long as access can be negotiated with those already irrigating, with the government and the investors. Given the high water table irrigation could be promoted; if the hot spring borehole used by the road construction agency which has completed its work is handed over together with the generator this could enable the development of irrigation and cash crop production.
97The youth incense harvesting cooperative might succeed if members can work well collectively and protect the enclosed area. Further differentiation in the community is likely as some households earn more from cash crops and invest in other source of income such as grinding mills, shops and bars.
98Increased traffic and investment in the Omo Valley as well as tourism potential could stimulate development of road-site settlement by the Kebele centre with more shops and cafes, attracting truckers. Relations between local government and peoples over increased investment in the Weyto and Omo Valleys and consequent resource expropriation and potential displacement could have knock-on effects in Luqa.
99Plans to build a second cycle primary school next year with community contributions to add to the first cycle of grades 1-4 will allow students to continue up to 8th grade rather than having to go to the hostel in Key Afer. This should result in more students reaching higher grades and make it easier for girls; some students could go on to secondary and tertiary education and may find employment despite limited opportunities. This could also stimulate inter-generational change and promote improvements in gender relations. Potential plans to upgrade the health post back to a health centre could lead to more uptake of primary health care at the village level if adequate drugs are available and better-trained HEWs are assigned.
100Further changes in gender relations may come about due to the active policy of promoting women’s rights which could lead to abandoning the practices of abduction, polygyny and widow inheritance. Government interventions against customs defined as harmful and the growing influence of Protestantism, particularly among the youth are likely lead to the weakening of traditional male gore initiation rituals, and the gilo reburial customs.
Trajectory comparisons
101Given the marginal climate and erratic rainfall pastoralism is likely to remain a critical component of livelihoods in both sites for the foreseeable future. However, this is likely to be increasingly constrained with greater pressure on grazing land from investment and agriculture and increasing enclosures will further erode customary resource management. Growing pressure on natural resources may well also exacerbate inter-ethnic tensions leading to less accommodating contexts for secondary use rights by people from other groups.
102Despite risks rain-fed agriculture is likely to increase especially in Luqa where sesame has proved to be a viable cash crop and in Gelcha against competition from in-migrant groups. The potential for irrigation development is imminent in Gelcha with the new scheme due to reach the village soon leading to tensions over anticipatory land-grabbing. This will bring about very significant changes in food security, cash crop production and may affect inter-ethnic relations as in-migrant labour will probably be sought; the irrigation will result in internal differentiation, which may partly depend on the extent of cooperative organisation which has had a poor record so far. In Luqa irrigation from groundwater would require pumping, and greater access to irrigation on the Weyto may well be constrained by distance and competition with investors and Tsamay living closer to the River, with less significant changes in the near future.
103Diversification is likely to involve more fattening and sale of livestock; this is more likely to proceed through individual initiatives rather than the cooperative model which seems to be failing in both sites. However, there is some potential for non-agricultural cooperative activity in both sites: in Gelcha the sand and stone quarrying and in Luqa the youth incense cooperative. In both sites more men may become involved in trading livestock and women in producing and selling food and beverages and other goods. Luqa may well develop as a roadside stop for truckers and some residents may prosper in setting up hotels, shops and providing services.
104Relations with external investments may well not change very significantly unless the scale of investment increases, though knock-on effects from other investment could be significant. Gelcha seems to have reached a modus vivendi with the plantation and park, though further conflicts could be sparked by drought or expansion of investment. In Luqa effects of the Weyto and Omo investment do not seem to have been felt much so far, although the development of markets and roadside traffic and improved communications have had some positive effects.
Conclusion
105Gelcha is likely to change faster with the new irrigation scheme providing not just livelihood opportunities but also clean water and electricity. The plan for at least part of the area to become incorporated in the wereda town administration, would have far-reaching effects on land use probably resulting in displacement, greater market integration and differentiation.
106In Luqa effects of investment in South Omo are more likely to have indirect or knock-on effects, in part through increase traffic through Luqa and possibly also on relations between Tsamay and investors on the Weyto and relations with other groups affected more directly by investment in the wider Omo Valley, and general government promotion of sedentarisation.
Bibliographie
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Abbink, J., 2012, “Dam controversies: contested governance and developmental discourse on the Ethiopian Omo River dam”, Social Anthropology 20 (2): 125–144.
10.1111/j.1469-8676.2012.00196.x :Ayalew Gebre, 2001, Pastoralism under Pressure: Land Alienation and Pastoral Transformation among the Karrayu of Eastern Ethiopia, 1941 to the Present, The Netherlands: Shaker publishing.
Bevan, P., Dom, C. and Pankhurst, A., 2010, “Long term perspectives on development impacts in rural Ethiopia, Stage 1 Final Report”, Oxford, Mokoro ltd.
Melese Getu, 1995, “Tsamako Women’s Roles and Status in Agro-Pastoral Production”, Social Anthropology dissertation no.3. Addis Ababa: Department of Sociology and Social Administration, Addis Ababa University.
Melese Getu, 1997, “Local versus outsider forms of natural resource use and management: the Tsamako experience in southwest Ethiopia”, PICES 13, vol. 2: 748-67.
Melese Getu, 2000. “A study of patterns of productive resource control among the Tsamako of Southwest Ethiopia”, PhD thesis, University of Manchester.
Pankhurst, A., 2012a, “Community Situation 2012: Luqa, SNNPR”. WIDE Stage 2: Evidence Base 1., Volume 1., Researched by Asmeret Gebre Hiwot and Demissie Gudisa, Oxford, Mokoro ltd.
Pankhurst, A., 2012b, “Community Situation 2012: Gelcha, Oromia”. WIDE Stage 2: Evidence Base 1., Volume 1., Researched by Aster Shibeshi and Tefera Goshu, Oxford, Mokoro ltd.
Notes de bas de page
1 Ayalew Gebre in Gelcha and Melese Getu in Luqa.
2 The research in 2011-12 was carried out by Aster Shibeshi and Tefera Goshu in Gelcha and Asmeret Gebre Hiwot and Demissie Gudisa in Luqa. I gratefully thank them for their contributions. I also wish to thank Ayalew Gebre and Melese Getu for their support and insights enabling me to gain a better understanding of the local contexts. I should also like to thank my colleagues Philippa Bevan, Catherine Dom, Rebecca Carter, Agazi Tiumelissan and Mengistu Dessalegn for their invaluable collaboration and the J-GAM fund for financing the research. I with to thank Asmeret Gebre Hiwot and Tefera Goshu for comments on this draft.
3 This summary outline of the historical context relies on the book produced by Ayalew Gebre based on his PhD research carried out in 1997-1998 (Ayalew 2001).
4 This summary outline of the historical context relies on the thesis produced by Melese Getu based on his MA and his PhD research carried out in 1997-1998 (Melese 1995, 1997, 2000)
5 Among households surveyed by Melese average livestock holdings were 18 cattle, 18 sheep and 17 goats (Melese 1997).
6 In contrast to what was happening on the Omo (Abbink 2012).
7 There is one in kebeles bordering neighbouring groups and one for three kebeles in other areas.
8 In 1997 there were 715 people in 127 households in Luqa, by 2011 there were 2,059 people in 566 households suggesting significant in-migration and settlement from the highlands.
9 A 2007 wereda report suggests that 2006 was a very bad year and 2000 and 2007 were bad years (EPaRDA 2007).
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