Second Level Land Certification reduces land management issues and increases economic opportunities in areas of Amhara Regional State

[Header image: Amhara Regional State President Temesgen Tiruneh expresses his commitment to modernize land administration and reduce good governance issues.]

An annual performance review of the Rural Land Administration and Use Bureau of Amhara Regional State has shown that the second-level land certification (SLLC) programme championed by LIFT is having a major positive impact in Amhara. This announcement came at the annual stakeholders review forum on October 17^th, 2019 in the region’s capital of Bahir Dar, and was received by high level government officials including the Amhara Regional State President Temesgen Tiruneh and administrators of zonal and woreda administrations.

Deribew Ayalew, Director of the Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Directorate of the Amhara Regional Land Bureau, reported that second-level land certificates have been given to over 1.2 million landholders in the 17 woredas covered so far. Even more exciting than the success of the SLLC alone in terms of numbers is that fact that in these same areas, boundary-related land disputes and overlapping claims of landholding ownership have significantly decreased. The number of land transfers has also increased, showing that the provision of certificates is helping farmers both protect and transfer their landholdings.

In addition, important economic successes have emerged in Amhara following second level certification. Landholders are now accessing credit from microfinance institutions by using their land rights as a guarantee. To date, over 7,000 land holders in Amhara have received SLLC-linked loans from the Amhara Credit and Savings Institution, amounting to 263 million Ethiopian Birr.

The stakeholders attending the event were impressed with the reports highlighting the  successful SLLC implementation progress achieved during the fiscal year and the efforts being made to further strengthen SLLC and scale the benefits. In general, land-related good governance issues and problems were reported to have significantly dropped in areas where second level land certificates were provided.

Tiruneh expressed his support for actions to modernize land administration and stated that these initial efforts to improve the rural land sector, such as through SLLC, should now be strengthened to maximize their positive impacts and reduce that many of land-related good governance issues found in rural areas of Ethiopia. Over 18 million parcels occupied by over 4 million landholders are currently estimated to exist in Amhara regional state, and the aim going forward will be to cover all parcels in the region. To reach this goal, the regional government of Amhara plans to provide certificates to all landholders across the Regional State during the next five years

Source: Adapted from a news report by the Amhara Regional State Communications Affairs Office

For more information, contact the LIFT communications team at lift@liftethiopia.com