EVOLVING MARKETS, RURAL LIVELIHOODS, AND GENDER RELATIONS: THE VIEW FROM A MILK-SELLING COOPERATIVE IN THE KOFALE DISTRICT OF WEST ARSII, ETHIOPIA

The study area for this research was the Kofale District of West Arsii, Ethiopia. The people living in villages in this area depend on their own agricultural products for their livelihoods. This self-reliance is now being supplemented through some exposure to local food markets. Their interactions with local markets, however, are selective. They reserve some products primarily for home consumption, while others are intended partly or mainly for sale. Recently, however, people's market interactions have become more intense, as a consequence of market-oriented government development strategies, and infrastructure improvements resulting in easier access to markets. These external influences have led to a change in the types of items made available for sale. Milk, which has been used by the Arsii Oromo primarily for home consumption, is now being commercialized in the research area. Milk has always constituted a major component of the Arsii Oromo's diet and food culture, and it is one of their most ritually, and nutritionally important food items. Responsibility for milk has traditionally been in the women's domain, and women largely control decisions over its distribution for consumption, transfer as gifts, and accumulation for making butter. These patterns of behavior, however, are apparently changing, owing to rural people's exposure (or access) to emerging markets (particularly via cooperatives), and the market's modus operandi. Based on in-depth interviews, and a number of case studies including one of a market-oriented milk cooperative, this paper explores how these evolving markets are affecting the Arsii Oromo's traditional relationship with milk, and how they are affecting rural livelihoods and gender relations in the Kofale District

Decision notice: Little Nestucca restoration project

16 pp. References. T5S, R9W, Sections 14-16, 20-23, 26-36 and T5S, R10W, Sections 4- 9, 15-18, 20- 23, 25-29, 33-36 and T6S, R8W, Sections 6-7; T6S, R9W, Sections 1-13 and T6S, R10W Sections 1- 3, 11-12. Captured February 28, 2008.Announces decision to implement Alternative 2 of the project EA, to thin commercially 2,638 acres of 30 to 63 year-old young managed conifer stands, as well as approximately 210 acres of 90 to 95 year-old off-site Douglas fir stands. Also includes decommissioning 7 miles of roads, closing some non-key roads, constructing 2 miles of new temporary roads, and reopening about 10 miles of existing temporary roads

Food Insecurity and Indigenization of an Alien Cereal Crop: Experiences of Smallholders in the Gamo Highlands

Enhancing food security among smallholder farmers has been the major goal of development intervention in Ethiopia. Thousands of development agents (DAs) have been assisting farmers to adopt new technologies and agricultural inputs to maximize production and productivity. Despite long-term and persistent efforts, however, still millions of people engaged in small scale farming are exposed to recurrent food insecurity. This article explores smallholders' responses to food insecurity situations focusing on smallholder farmers in the Gamo highlands, south-western Ethiopia putting triticale, an alien cereal crop imported from abroad, and apple at the center of the argument. Smallholders adopted improved cereal crops and potato seeds promoted by development agencies more easily than planting apple as a cash crop because apple requires more land, especial skills and knowledge to manage it, and a long-term commitment to adequately benefit from its yields. On the other hand, smallholders adopted and indigenized triticale despite the anti-triticale campaign launched by agricultural experts in the study district. Smallholder farmers make decisions considering local circumstances and realities, sometimes putting aside prescriptions of agricultural experts and development agents

Women's Agency and the Men in the Shadow: Complexities of Women's Land Inheritance Rights amid Structural Conflicts in Oromia Region, Ethiopia

Land possession is not only vital for livelihood but also serves as symbol of social status, clan affiliation and succession among the Oromo. However, access to land, for both men and women, are now governed by two competing realms of ‘law’ in Oromia National Regional States (hereafter Oromia). On one hand, customary laws and norms still govern access to land including through land inheritance. On the other hand, people use (and sometimes misuse) state ‘laws’ to claim and inherit land in a manner contrary to the custom. This paper, based on case studies from different parts of Oromia, examines: (1) how women (making use of state-based laws) are actively seeking to inherit land from their parents in view of the increasing economic/livelihood values of land, (2) how women's attempts to claim and inherit land from their family of origin is complicated by such structural factors as clan exogamy and settlement rules, and (3) how men are covertly attempting to gain access to land outside their clan territory through the overt agency of women