ESSP II Working Paper 17 Ethiopian Agriculture: A Dynamic Geographic Perspective Jordan Chamberlin and Emily Schmidt Development Strategy and Governance Division, International Food Policy Research Institute – Ethiopia Strategy Support Program II, Ethiopia Ethiopia Strategy Support Program II (ESSP II) ESSP II Working Paper No. 017 March 2011 IFPRI-ADDIS ABABA IFPRI HEADQUARTERS P.O. Box 5689 International Food Policy Research Institute Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 2033 K Street, NW • Washington, DC 20006-1002 Tel: +251-11-646-2921 USA Fax: +251-11-646-2318 Tel: +1-202-862-5600 E-mail: [email protected] Skype: IFPRIhomeoffice Fax: +1-202-467-4439 E-mail: [email protected] www.ifpri.org THE ETHIOPIA STRATEGY SUPPORT PROGRAM II (ESSP II) WORKING PAPERS ABOUT ESSP II The Ethiopia Strategy Support Program II is an initiative to strengthen evidence-based policymaking in Ethiopia in the areas of rural and agricultural development. Facilitated by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), ESSP II works closely with the government of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI), and other development partners to provide information relevant for the design and implementation of Ethiopia’s agricultural and rural development strategies. For more information, see http://www.ifpri.org/book- 757/ourwork/program/ethiopia-strategy-support-program or http://www.edri.org.et/. ABOUT THESE WORKING PAPERS The Ethiopia Strategy Support Program II (ESSP II) Working Papers contain preliminary material and research results from IFPRI and/or its partners in Ethiopia. The papers are not subject to a formal peer review. They are circulated in order to stimulate discussion and critical comment. The opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of their home institutions or supporting organizations. About the Author(s) Jordan Chamberlin: PhD Candidate, Michigan State University Emily Schmidt: Country Program Coordinator & GIS Specialist, International Food Policy Research Institute ii Ethiopian Agriculture: A Dynamic Geographic Perspective Jordan Chamberlin and Emily Schmidt Development Strategy and Governance Division, International Food Policy Research Institute – Ethiopia Strategy Support Program 2, Ethiopia Copyright © 2010 International Food Policy Research Institute. All rights reserved. Sections of this material may be reproduced for personal and not- for-profit use without the express written permission of but with acknowledgment to IFPRI. To reproduce the material contained herein for profit or commercial use requires express written permission. To obtain permission, contact the Communications Division at [email protected]. iii Table of Contents 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 6 2. Characterizing production contexts .......................................................................... 7 3. Biophysical envelopes of Ethiopian staple crops ..................................................... 9 4. Agroecologies and farming systems ...................................................................... 11 5. Characterization for policy guidance ...................................................................... 12 6. Development domains of Ethiopia ......................................................................... 13 7. Ethiopia’s changing economic and biophysical landscape .................................... 17 7.1. Infrastructure expansion ................................................................................... 17 7.2. Improving market access through improved transportation infrastructure ....... 17 7.3. Expanding electricity generation ...................................................................... 19 7.4. Enhancing telecommunications ........................................................................ 20 8. Urban growth and expansion ................................................................................. 22 9. New technologies ................................................................................................... 24 9.1. Improved seed .................................................................................................. 24 9.2. Fertilizer ............................................................................................................ 24 9.3. Spatial variations in technology use ................................................................. 24 10. Conclusions ............................................................................................................ 26 References ................................................................................................................... 27 4 List of Tables Table 2.1. Traditional ecological zones and selected crop altitudinal ranges ................ 8 Table 6.1. Domain summary statistics: share of national totals (%) by domain factor . 14 Table 6.2. Domain summary statistics: domain share of national totals (%) ................ 14 Table 7.1. Percent population connected to a city of at least 50,000 people in 2007 .. 18 Table 7.2. Percent change connected to a city of at least 50,000 people from 1994 to 2007 ........................................................................................................... 19 Table 7.3. Electricity generation capacity 1958 to 2011* in Ethiopia ........................... 20 Table 7.4. Fixed line and cellular telephones 2003 to 2010 in Ethiopia ....................... 21 Table 8.1. Agglomeration index* – Percent of people considered urban by region ..... 22 Table 8.2. Ethiopia: Alternative urbanization estimates ............................................... 23 Table 9.1. Area, production and yields of cereals using modern inputs or traditional technology .................................................................................................. 25 List of Figures Figure 2.1. Characteristics of rainfall and altitude ........................................................7 Figure 3.1. Dominant cereals in Ethiopia .....................................................................9 Figure 6.1. Map of woreda domain assignments, 1994 .............................................15 Figure 6.2. Map of woreda domain assignments, 2007 .............................................15 Figure 7.1. Travel time 1994 and 2007 ......................................................................18 Figure 7.2. Fixed line and cellular telephones 2003 to 2010 in Ethiopia .................... 21 5 1. Introduction The opportunities and constraints facing Ethiopian agriculture are strongly influenced by conditions which vary across geographical space. These conditions include basic agricultural production potentials, access to input and output markets, and local population densities which represent both labor availability and local demand for food. Understanding the geographical expression of these factors is an important way of making sense of Ethiopia’s agricultural and rural development options and for guiding the definition of supporting policies. These conditions not only vary over space, but change over time as well. New and improved roads, expanding telecommunications, improved access to electricity, as well as urban growth, continue to lower transaction costs and improve market access. Changing production opportunities and new technologies have allowed greater flexibility of livelihood decisions within defined biophysical endowments. As Ethiopia continues to invest in infrastructure and technology, the agricultural landscape continues to be reshaped and redefined into broader areas of opportunity and growth. The objectives of this chapter are twofold. First, we provide an overview of the geographical production contexts that constitute a basic reference for understanding production systems and geography of agricultural production in rural Ethiopia. This characterization is organized around the economic logic of comparative advantage for a variety of generalized production decisions of relevance in Ethiopia. Second, we extend this framework to organize evidence for, and discussion of, important areas of dynamism in Ethiopia’s rural economic landscape. Thus, this chapter is mainly a descriptive assessment of important production contexts and the manner in which these contexts are evolving. 6 2. Characterizing production contexts In large and heterogeneous countries, such as Ethiopia, agricultural potential is unevenly distributed over space, and the distribution of production patterns reflects this landscape. Mapped zones of smallholder production systems have long been recognized as important in Ethiopia precisely because of such landscape heterogeneity (for example Westphal 1975, Hurni 1998, De Pauw and Bruggeman 1988). To provide a useful characterization of agricultural landscapes, geographical perspectives seek a balance between too little information and too much. On the one hand, spatial characterization is motivated by the fact that average national statistics and one-size-fits-all development strategies are insufficient for effective rural planning. On the other hand, a surfeit of detail may render mapped classifications useless for planning on the basis of shared conditions: hundreds of subcategories, whether in a map or a table, even when they accurately portray local variation, and almost always contain too much information to be tractable as a planning aid. Thus, characterizations generally seek to