Agricultural changes and the state of food sovereignty among the Macha Oromo of Wallagga, 1975-2015

Abstract

Since the mid-1970s, modern farming has endangered the indigenous production and food system among the Macha Oromo of western Ethiopia. Modern cultivation sought to secure food to the growing population and market that negatively affected the food sovereignty of the Macha farmers. The effects of agricultural changes on food sovereignty in this intensively cultivated region have received astonishingly little attention from either historians or other social scientists. This study attempts to examine how the modern farming practices endangered the farming and food system in Wallagga from 1975 to 2015. It illustrates the effects of land use changes and modern farm inputs on indigenous cultivation and subsequently food system. The study has employed a historical research method in which evidences on land use, farming practices, trade, investment since the mid-1970s. The study argues that the change in land use and excessive and continuous use of inorganic fertilizers since 1970s has seriously affected both the environment and food system. It reveals that these changes usurped the right of the Macha Oromo to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods. Thus, the return to ecologically and culturally sound agricultural system would realize food sovereignty and ease this historical injustice.

How to cite this article using ASWNet style

Dehu, D. H. (2023). Agricultural changes and the state of food sovereignty among the Macha Oromo of Wallagga, 1975-2015. People centred – The Journal of Development Administration (JDA), 8(2), 30-36. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jda.v8i2.2

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