Is it the end of land grabbing in Ethiopia?

This week end I read with great interest a very short article in the Ethiopian local newspaper in English, The Reporter. The article mentions that the ministry of agriculture want to stop to give land to foreign direct investor and that many "land grabbers" have given their land back to the government. (I heart similar rumors from people who where in the fields, see post http://catherinepfeifer.blogspot.com/2012/02/on-land-grabing-again.html)

Is this the end of land grabbing in Ethiopia?



Here the article from the Reporter

Ministry of agriculture suspends land provision

Saturday, 17 March 2012 06:26

By WUDINEH ZENEBE

Ever since the ministry had established investment supporting directorate, a total of 342,099 hectares of lands had been given to local and foreign investment companies.

The directorate took a total of 3.6 million hectares of lands in Benishangul Gumuz, Gambela, Oromia and in some parts of Southern Nations and Nationalities Peoples’ Region. It was learnt that the ministry has been providing investors with 100,000 to 500,000 hectares of land.

According to documents, most of the investors did not use the lands that they had taken for the intended purposes. Many people have been complaining that the investors were embanking on aggressive land grabbing which had resulted in destroying environmental resources. They added that the massive action on providing land to the investors was forcing many to be displaced from their villages.

Environmental activists have disclosed that the ministry must evaluate the status of the land that investors were provided with before making more land available to investors.