ABSTRACT
Issues related to land, as to any other form of property, have always and everywhere been both political and economic in any society. The patterns and rights of ownership or possession of land, the various forms of access to and control over it, the organization of agriculture and distribution of its products are decided both by political exigency and economic interests – both in the narrow sense of individual and class interests and in the broader sense of a selection of the most productive pattern of institutions under the given constraints. Access to and control over land are issues of major competing interests, representing diverse social forces, individuals and institutions, such as landlords, peasants, commercial farmers, pastoralists, the state, and multinational corporations. This becomes more complex in a multi-ethnic and multi-nation state where nationality and culture are intimately tied to place and thus questions of land ownership become a Gordian knot of rivaling political and economic interests. This is the case in Ethiopia where the challenge to transform the agricultural sector and make it an engine of growth must take into account at every turn the very political nature of land ownership in the country.
