This doctoral thesis presents three original research papers investigating aspects of agricultural production in small-farming households in two regions of Ethiopia. While answering specific research questions, the articles are connected and motivated by an interest in essential themes of agricultural development: access to seed, the use and conservation of agrobiodiversity as well as strategies to manage production risk in smallholder agriculture. The first article analyses patterns of agrobiodiversity in three communities with comparatively favourable farming conditions and good market access in the East Shewa zone of Eastern Ethiopia. Using original panel data of more than 300 households collected in 2011 and 2013, the study shows that the least vulnerable households grow a larger portfolio of food crops and wheat varieties. Based on these findings, the role of agrobiodiversity for ex ante risk management and alternative incentives for portfolio diversification are discussed. The second article investigates the effects of a fungal crop disease on agricultural production of households in East Shewa using household level panel data during and after an epidemic outbreak of yellow rust in 2010/11. Findings suggest that while varietal diversity in wheat does not increase, roughly thirty percent of households make changes in their varietal portfolio and reduce wheat cultivation in response to the disease. Disease resistant varieties are only available to 16 percent of all households with preferential access to agricultural resources. The third article presents a mixed methods study of a highly developed informal seed insurance network among subsistence‐oriented small farmers in two communities in the West Hararghe zone of Ethiopia. Based on a survey and interviews with 150 farmers, we find that the vast majority of small farmers actively participate in informal seed assistance by giving or receiving small quantities of seed without compensation. We argue that the seed assistance through gifts is practiced to insure against hunger ex ante and facilitate access to crop genetic resources in a centre of crop origin and diversity.

The land grabbing phenomena grew in both reported cases and in scholarly interest after the 2008 financial crisis. The concept of land grabbing has been greatly debated and some have chosen the term large scale land acquisition instead, focusing on win-win outcomes while the land grabbing term rather focuses on the unequal power relations involved. Our study has defined land grabbing as; a global land rush characterized by transnational and domestic investors, governments and local elites taking control over land in order to produce food and other industrial commodities for domestic and international markets. The study's aim is to examine land grabbings implications on smallholders local livelihoods in Ethiopia and furthermore to reveal what narratives that are being promoted by the Ethiopian government to justify these land grabs. This to understand how the implications on smallholders' livelihoods and the narratives by the government match. The study is based in a qualitative methodology, basing most of the study's result in a literature review. The study is examined through a Political Ecology framework, focusing on political economy with theory influences from both Marx and David Harvey. Furthermore, the study will also combine the theoretical understanding of discursive power, focusing on development discourses, with a narrative analysis. Findings of the study show that the main narratives pushed by the government to justify said land grabs in the country was economic growth, further enabling a ‘development state’, modernizing pastoralists by providing stable income and changing living situations for pastoralists and increasing the food security in the country. Furthermore, the study found that the livelihood implications for smallholders have been overall negative, with outcomes such as displacement, loss of land and resources, weakened food security and also negative psychological and social impacts as well. Therefore the study could conclude that the Ethiopian government's argumentations have not matched with the lived realities for many smallholders.

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This study is a policy network analysis of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) in Ethiopia. The CAADP is a NEPAD initiative aimed at promoting policy interventions that will address the agricultural crisis in Africa. This dissertation argues that policy networks are regarded as a tool for and a structure of public policy making and implementation, and assume such attributes as exchanges of resources, interdependence among stakeholders that can be formal or informal. Its formation arises from a realisation that single bureaucratic governments are ineffective hence the need to seek mutually beneficial solutions, share information, gain support and legitimacy through association with other agencies. A policy network analysis of the CAADP has revealed that relationships among the CAADP policy network partners are typically collaborative, complex, reciprocal, and trust based. Therefore, the implementation of the CAADP take place through what would be termed „networked governance‟ – where stakeholders share common policy objectives aimed at reducing hunger and starvation as well as increasing economic development through a range of collaborative efforts among government, private and civic organisations. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) represents the New Partnership for Africa’s Developments’ (NEPAD) framework for revitalising Africa’s agriculture. Improving agricultural performance is at the heart of improved economic development and growth. NEPAD believes that agriculture will provide the engine for growth in Africa. The CAADP framework was developed by the NEPAD Steering Committee in collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. It also includes the contributions of other institutions such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (FAD), the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Bank, and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). The CAADP focused on investments in four pillars that can make the earliest difference to Africa’s agricultural crisis. These mutually reinforcing pillars were expected to bring about improvements in terms of Africa’s agriculture, food security, and trade balance. This will ultimately enable Africa to reach its Millennium Development Goal of reducing hunger and poverty by half by 2015 (WDR). For the purpose of this particular study, the first investment pillar, which is water and land management, will be scrutinised extensively, as this is critical to achieving the so much talked about food security. The study will utilise both secondary and primary documents of NEPAD. More specifically the implemented water and irrigation projects in the East and West Africa countries will be reviewed to determine success in African agricultural development under NEPAD. It will identify specifically water management projects already implemented and those already initiated, and find out whether the CAADP is set to deliver the Millennium Development Goal. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die ‘Omvattende Landbou Ontwikkelingsprogram’ (CAADP) is die raamwerk van NEPAD se pogings om Afrika se landbousektor te hergenereer. Verbeterde landbou is die kern van verbeterde ekonomiese groei en ontwikkeling in Afrika. Trouens, NEPAD glo dat landbou die dryfkrag van Afrika se ekonomiese groei sal wees. Die CAADP-raamwerk is ontwikkel deur NEPAD se leierskap, in noue samewerking met die Verenigde Nasies se Voedsel en Landbouorganisasie (FAO). Die raamwerk sluit ook in bydraes van ander liggame, soos die Internasionale Fonds vir Landbouontwikkeling (FAD), die Wêreldvoedselprogram (WFP), die Wêreldbank en die Forum vir Landbounavorsing in Afrika (FARA). Die CAADP fokus op vier investeringspilare wat Afrika se landboukrisis van onder af kan aanpak. Hierdie interafhanklike pilare is veronderstel om Afrika se landbou, voedselversorging en handelsbalans gelyktydig aan te pak. Hierdie stappe behoort te help dat Afrika die Millennium Ontwikkelingsoogmerk (nl. ‘n halvering van honger teen 2015) te bereik. In hierdie studie val die klem op die eerste pilaar, nl. water en grondbestuur, as voorwaarde vir voedselsekuriteit. Die studie maak gebruik van sowel primêre en sekondêre dokumentasies van NEPAD, met besondere fokus op water en besproeiingsprojekte in Oos- en Wes-Afrika. Daar word gekyk na spesifieke projekte wat reeds bestaan en wat geïnisieer is, ten einde die sukses van CAADP te bepaal.

Il cambiamento climatico è una sfida chiave dei nostri tempi, soprattutto per i paesi in via di sviluppo, che basano i loro processi di crescita sull'utilizzo delle risorse naturali e sul settore agricolo. Sebbene esistano varie strategie e piani, sia a livello pubblico che privato, per far fronte agli impatti dei cambiamenti climatici, l'implementazione delle misure di adattamento è ancora limitata. Questo è collegato alla presenza d'incertezza riguardo agli impatti dei cambiamenti climatici in futuro. Pertanto, nuovi strumenti e processi decisionali dovrebbero essere valutati e diffusi nel tentativo di aiutare i decisori pubblici e privati nella definizione e attuazione di misure concrete di adattamento. In questa tesi, la Portfolio Analysis viene applicata alla valutazione di investimenti agricoli in Ruanda / Climate change is a key challenge of our times, especially for developing countries, which significantly rely on natural resources and on the agriculture sector. Even though there are various strategies and plans to face climate change impacts, the implementation of adaptation measures is still uneven. This is connected to the presence of uncertainty about the impacts of climate change in the future. Therefore, new decision-making tools and decision processes should be assessed and disseminated in the attempt to help the decision makers in the definition and implementation of concrete adaptation measures. In this dissertation, the Portfolio Analysis methodology is applied in the evaluation of agricultural investments in Rwanda

Water constraints for humans and nature are gaining more and more public attention as a critical environmental dilemma that needs to be addressed. When aquifers and rivers are running dry, the debate refers to an ongoing “world water crisis”. This thesis focuses on the water and agricultural production complexity in a global, regional and local perspective during different phases of development. It addresses the river basin closing process in light of consumptive water use changes, land use alterations, past and future food production in waterscarce developing countries in general, and a south Indian case study basin in particular, the Bhavani basin in Tamil Nadu. The study focuses on early phases of global agricultural development and addresses consumptive use and river depletion in response to land use change and irrigation expansion. It shows that focus must be shifted from a water use to a consumptive water use notion that considers both green and blue water resources. The Bhavani basin development trajectory reveals a dynamic interplay between land and water resources and different socio-political groups during the “green revolution” period. The present system has emerged as a step-by-step adaptation in response to hydro-climatic variability, human demands and infrastructure constraints. The study reveals three kinds of basin closure: allocation closure; hydrological closure; and perception wise closure. Many concerted actions on multiple scales have contributed to an increasing water use complexity even after closure. The study shows the extent to which natural variability hides creeping changes, and that the “average year” is a deceptive basis for water allocation planning. Future consumptive water requirements to feed growing populations in the developing world is analysed with a back-casting country-based approach. The study shows a doubling of water requirements by 2050 and how the challenge can be halved by increased water productivity. Since blue water accessibility for irrigation clearly will be insufficient, additional green water has to be acquired by horizontal agricultural expansion into other terrestrial ecosystems. The task will be substantial and increase the importance of global food trade. / Vattenbrist för människor och ekosystem är en mer och mer uppmärksammad miljöfråga. Sjunkande grundvattennivåer och uttorkade floder gör att många talar om en ”global vattenkris”. Denna avhandling fokuserar på de komplexa sambanden mellan vatten och jordbruksproduktion utifrån ett globalt, regionalt och lokalt perspektiv under olika utvecklingsfaser under fyra sekler. Den redogör för hur avrinningsområden överintecknas och slutligen ”stängs” för ytterligare vattenutvinning. Effekterna av ökad vattenutvinning i relation till historisk och framtida matproduktion analyseras generellt i utvecklingsländer med vattenbrist, och i detalj i en fallstudie i Bhavani avrinningsområde i Tamil Nadu i södra Indien. Studien visar för den tidiga jordbruksutvecklingen på global nivå hur förändrad markanvändning och bevattningsexpansion leder till förändrad balans mellan evapotranspiration och avrinning, med uttorkning av vattendrag som följd. Den visar vidare vikten av ett paradigmskifte där fokus flyttas från vattenanvändning till ”konsumerande” vattenanvändning, och som inkluderar både grönvatten- och blåvattenresurser. Analysen av Bhavaniområdets utvecklingskurva under det senaste seklets jordbruksutveckling visar på ett dynamiskt växelspel mellan land- och vattenresurser och mellan olika samhällsgrupper. Den nuvarande vattenanvändningssituationen har stegvis växt fram som en respons på hydroklimatisk variabilitet, människors behov och infrastrukturbegränsningar. Studien påvisar att ett avrinningsområde kan ses som ”stängt” på tre skilda sätt: när flödet är överintecknat, när utflödet sinar, och när vattenanvändare upplever att behoven överstiger tillgången. Även efter ”stängning” har etablering och intensifiering av vattenutvinning fortsatt och resulterat i ett alltmer komplext och sammanflätat vattenanvändningsmönster. Studien visar vidare hur hög hydroklimatisk variabilitet, dels gör att ”genomsnittlig vattentillgång” är förledande vid planering av vattenfördelning i ett avrinningsområde, och dels döljer smygande kumulativa effekter av ökad vattenutvinning. Slutligen anlyseras ländervis framtida vattenbehov för att möta matbehovet i världens utvecklingsländer, vilket visar på en fördubbling fram till 2050. Tack vare ökad vattenproduktivitet kan behovet emellertid halveras. Endast en bråkdel av det resterande behovet kan mötas genom ökad bevattning, dvs. med mera blåvatten. En stor del av vattenbehovet måste istället täckas med mera grönvatten via uppodling av andra terrestra ekosystem. Uppgiften innebär en betydande utmaning och global handel med jordbruksprodukter kommer att öka avsevärt i betydelse.