Presentation short abstract

In Western Ethiopia, longitudinal fieldwork on six investor farms reveals state support for selected investors amid armed insurgency. Peasants and pastoralists continuously negotiate access to land and jobs. We interpret this as regimes of dispossession linking state accumulation to rural conflict.

Presentation long abstract

Despite repeated shortcomings in meeting their stated promises and mixed evidence regarding their socio-economic impacts, governments worldwide continue to prioritise large-scale agricultural land investments as central to development agendas. Ethiopia is a prime example of this, using both foreign and domestic capital to achieve economic growth, job creation, food security and increased state control over rural areas. The majority of these medium- and large-scale farms focus on producing commodities and seeds primarily for the domestic market and are lagging behind in their objectives. To analyse the political economy behind these investments, we conducted fieldwork in 2016 on six farms in western Ethiopia — three managed by Indian investors and three by Ethiopian investors. Through interviews with company managers, workers, local communities, and governmental and non-governmental representatives, we explored investment processes, state interactions, community outcomes, and labour dynamics. Nine years later, we revisited the same sites and individuals to assess longitudinal changes. Our findings reveal the active promotion and selective support of particular investors by both the national and regional governments amid an ongoing armed insurgency and contests over authority and resource allocation. Socially differentiated peasants and pastoralists have continously been negotiating their access to land and employment opportunities. We interpret these dynamics through Michael Levien’s concept of 'regimes of dispossession', linking state-backed accumulation processes to rural social struggles, and situate our findings within the literature that connects violent conflict and (historical) agrarian struggles over land and other resources.