The Relation between Large-Scale Land Acquisitions and Rural Households: Evidence from Ethiopia and Tanzania

The aim of the thesis is to understand the impact of large-scale foreign land acquisitions on rural households. In order to address the research question, I consider four key pathways of influence of LSLA on rural households: Access to land, returns to land, returns to labour and price of agricultural goods. After an introductory first chapter, the second chapter defines the four pathways, provides an overview of the challenges that rural households face through the development process analyses how LSLA can integrate such process. The chapter shows the importance of national policy and institutional frameworks for shaping LSLA’s effect on rural households. The third chapter identifies the international, regional and national policy tools that regulate LSLA and rural households, including land access, environmental standards, labour rights and food security. The chapter highlights the differences in the land tenure system of Ethiopia and Tanzania, while describing the similar efforts by national governments to attract LSLA. The fourth chapter looks at the available qualitative evidence on the impact of LSLA on rural households in the two countries. The chapter’s main takeaway is that, despite the policy differences between Ethiopia and Tanzania, there are several elements of similarity in the reported effect of LSLA on the defined indicators of households’ welfare. The fifth chapter employs household survey data for both countries as well as data on land acquisitions to provide quantitative evidence of the impact of LSLA on rural communities. The chapter contributes to the newly-developing body of quantitative literature on the topic, providing a mixed picture of the impact of LSLA on the four defined pathways.