Effects of Large-scale agricultural investments on smallholder farming in Sub-Saharan Africa (Case study: Ethiopia)

Sammanfattning: The importance and future of smallholder farming is controversial, with many scholars advocating for its development in order to eradicate poverty, while few others see small-scale farming as an obstacle for development. Regardless of which theory one supports, solving the smallholders issue is not an overnight project rather a long process. While the future of this group, which represents over 80 percent of the Sub-Saharan population, should be handled with great care, evidence shows that they are the main victims of the ongoing foreign and domestic large scale private investments on land. Investments on agriculture, foreign or/and domestic are vital for most Sub-Saharan African countries, but is the government’s responsibility to see that they generate desired social benefits and not increase vulnerability. They should not jeopardize food security but rather strengthen it