Journal #J-07/2000
Population Pressure and Land Degradation in the Ethiopian Highlands: A Bio-Economic Model with Endogenous Soil Degradation
Bekele Shiferaw, Stein Holden & Jens Aune(1)
Department of Economics & Social Sciences Agricultural University of Norway PO Box 5033, N-1432 Ås, Norway http://www.nlh.no/ior/ e-mail: stein.holden@ior.nlh.no

(1) Jens Aune, NORAGRIC, Agricultural University of Norway ( http://www.nlh.no/noragric/  ) e-mail: jens.aune@noragric.nlh.no

Shiferaw, B., S. Holden & J. Aune (2000): "Population Pressure and Land Degradation in the Ethiopian Highlands: A Bio-Economic Model with Endogenous Soil Degradation", pp. 73-92, Heerink, N., H vanKeulen & M. Kuiper (eds.), Economic Policy and Sustainable Land use - Recent Advances in Quantitative Analysis for Developing Countries, Springer Verlag, The Netherlands.

Abstract:
We apply a bio-economic modeling approach to trace important relationships between population pressure, poverty and management of land resources for a crop-livestock economy characterized by serious land degradation in the Ethiopian highlands. Our objective is to examine the interlinkages between population pressure and poverty, and their impacts on household welfare and land management, and the consequent pathways of development in a low potential rural economy. Farm households are assumed to maximize their discounted utility over the planning horizon in a multi-period model where the management of the resource base has feedback effects on the stock and quality of the resource base. Market imperfections lead to non-separability of production and consumption decisions of farm households. The models trace the dynamic interactions between crop and livestock production, the resource base, consumption preferences, and partial integration of the household economy into markets. Simulation results indicate that under high population pressure, land becomes dearer relative to labor. This induces labor-intensive conservation investments when off-farm employment is limited and labor is not in scarce supply. Availability of credit and fertilizer, however, seem to discourage labor-intensive conservation efforts. When markets are imperfect, poverty in vital assets (e.g., oxen and labor) limits the ability or the willingness to invest in conservation.

Key words: No key words

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