Commercial land deals and the interactions between investors and local people: Evidence from western Ethiopia

The current study explores transnational land deals from a regional perspective and investigates investor-local people interactions and the factors that underpin them. Empirical analysis utilizes survey data from the Benishangul-Gumuz region, a topographically low-lying region of Ethiopia. Descriptive statistics and ordinal regression model (ORM) was used to analyze data. We explored the factors that determine investor-local people interactions (ILPI) with possible dyadic outcomes which range from confrontation to collaboration. Notwithstanding the conventional centre-periphery discourses on availability of 'unutilized' cultivable lands, findings show that land is already under the pressure of competing demands in the region for transnational and local, private and government, small-scale and agro-industrial purposes. We have observed that the investor-local people interaction is a complex construct influenced by multiple socioeconomic, managerial, and governance-related factors. While community consultation, land use class, local employment, and investors' role in developing an own water source have a significant effect upon ILPI, the influence of other factors such as compensation for expropriated property and farm distance from a community village is observable but insignificant. Though consideration of those factors which underpin investor-local people collaborative interaction is important, synchronizing existing land uses and prioritizing competing demands for land is equally important. Building regional capacity with an inclusive local development outlook is essential.