Livelihood Diversification among the Agricultural Land Scarce Peasants in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia

This article examines the livelihood strategies of land scarce peasants in Ethiopian. Land scarce peasants have a limited livelihood security on a sustainable manner and bypassed by major development programmes. The study was centred on two sets of rationales. First, for those peasants who do not have sufficient farmland, agriculture provides only a limited portion of households’ livelihood security sustainably. Second, although there are ample studies on rural livelihoods and agricultural land scarcity, little is known, for instance, about the dynamics of agricultural land scarce farmers’ livelihood strategies in the Central highlands of Ethiopia. The field study surveyed 75 land scarce households and conducted a number of key informant interviews, focus group discussions, direct observations and transect walks to get first hand information and consulted several secondary sources. The result showed that the respondents are still predominantly pursuing agricultural based livelihood strategies through agricultural intensification, extensification, and diversifications. It depicted that 29.3%, 42.7 %, and 98.7 % of the respondents derive income from off-farm, non-farm, and agricultural activities, respectively. They also seasonally migrate outside their village for additional sources of income. Thus, interventions and policies need to promote sustainable livelihood must consider them through enhancing non-agricultural livelihood diversification activities away from agriculture and reduce the heavy dependence on limited land.