Abstract
Access to agricultural land is a matter of life and death among the peasant society. Control over this resource is also the most disputable and contentious aspect of rural setting in Ethiopia which affects the overall socio-economic and welfare status of an individual and a group. This research is an attempt to identify and analyze both formal and informal institutions rendering agricultural land acquisition and transfer in the Central Highland of Ethiopia, using Tole District as a case study. The key findings of the study revealed that the majority of the highland and midland agricultural land scarce households are predominantly acquiring agricultural land through inheritance from their parents followed by donation from relatives, sharecropping, renting-in, local administrations, and acquisition from the combination of these mechanisms. Such social capital was found to be strong for sharing and accessing the land. Thus, interventions and policies need to promote sustainable livelihood of the area, must recognize the role of formal and informal institutions that facilitate land transfer among farming households. This can be achieved through the supply of credits and improved agricultural technologies, and other specific policy instruments. These entail that the best approach is to promote a package of integrated agricultural and non-agricultural livelihood strategies for small landholders.
Key words: Central-highlands, Ethiopia, Tole, land, acquisition, Institutions.
