Impacts of Villagisation and Large-Scale Agricultural Investment

Ethiopia went through different Villagisation policies in different regimes. The common purpose of Villagisation in Mengistu and current regime has been clustering scattered population into planned settlements. Each regime face criticism from international communities; Mengistu for using Villagisation as counterinsurgency elements, coercion and family separation and the current Government for evicting indigenous people from their fertile and ancestral lands, to give way to domestic and foreign investors. The Government argues Villagization is a voluntary process aims to increase access to basic services, ensure food security, and bring socioeconomic and cultural transformation. The approach has been regrouping scattered people into sedentarisation without moving them significant distances from area they previously lived. I investigated the impact of Villagisation and agricultural investment in Gambella, Ethiopia. The findings show no indication of involuntary Villagisation, no significant relationship between Villagisation and investment, or no evidence of previously occupied land leased to investors. However,the study reveals there has been lack of communication and misinformation