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Qualitative and quantitative analyses show investors cultivate significantly less land than contracts specify. Limited monitoring systems also contribute to weak socio-economic outcomes and deforestation. The findings stress integrated land use planning, land valuation, governance, monitoring capacity, and coordinated enforcement of social and environmental laws, alongside improved rural infrastructure and respect for customary landholding rights.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/","Template",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/presentations/","Presentations",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/how-sustainable-is-transnational-farmland-acquisition-in-ethiopia-lessons-learned-from-the-benishangul-gumuz-region/282633/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/how-sustainable-is-transnational-farmland-acquisition-in-ethiopia-lessons-learned-from-the-benishangul-gumuz-region/282633.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Oliver Hayes","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-04","2026-09-16",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",10,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What is the main focus of the study on Ethiopia’s land lease process?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The study describes how institutional and governmental frameworks shape Ethiopia’s land governance and land lease contracts, and assesses the process against economic, social, and environmental expectations.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What do the results show about land cultivated versus contract size?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Investors cultivate a significantly smaller area than the size agreed upon in the land lease contracts.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"Which shortcomings are linked to socio-economic impacts and deforestation?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Inadequate land use planning, land valuation, risk analysis, and limitations in monitoring systems are associated with weak socio-economic gains and deforestation.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},282633,1789579137,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,93,98,103,108,113,118,123],{"id":85,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},11,90,"presentations",{"id":89,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":90,"show_sort_weight":91,"slug":92},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":94,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":99,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":104,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":109,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":114,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":119,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":124,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":126},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":128},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":129,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":130,"doc_module":22,"category_id":85,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":131,"file_id":132,"file_url":133,"file_type":134,"file_size":135,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":136,"language":137,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":138,"faqs":139,"seo_title":140,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":80,"read_time":141},687207020761,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","sustainability   \nArticle  \nHow Sustainable Is Transnational Farmland Acquisition in Ethiopia? Lessons Learned from the Benishangul-Gumuz Region  \nDereje Teklemariam 1,2,*, Hossein Azadi 1,3,4,*, Jan Nyssen 1, Mitiku Haile 5 and Frank Witlox 1  \n1 Department of Geography, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium; [Jan.Nyssen@UGent.be](Jan.Nyssen@UGent.be) (J.N.); [Frank.Witlox@UGent.be](Frank.Witlox@UGent.be) (F.W.)  \n2 Department of Management, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 451, Mekelle, Ethiopia  \n3 Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Agoralaan Building D, B-3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium  \n4 Economics and Rural Development, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium  \n5 Department of Land Resources Management and Environmental Protection, Mekelle University,  \nP.O. Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia; [gualmitiku@yahoo.com](gualmitiku@yahoo.com)  \n* [Correspondence: DerejeTeklemariam.Gebremeskel@ugent.be](Correspondence: DerejeTeklemariam.Gebremeskel@ugent.be) (D.T.); [hossein.azadi@ugent.be](hossein.azadi@ugent.be) (H.A.); Tel.: +32-09-264-4695 (D.T. & H.A.); Fax: +32-09-264-4985 (D.T. & H.A.)  \nAcademic Editor: Jens Newig  \nReceived: 20 November 2015 ; Accepted: 17 February 2016 ; Published: 29 February 2016  \nAbstract: Due to the nature of available land as one of the main attractions for investment, land lease marketing in Sub-Saharan Africa is appearing on policy agenda. This paper describes critical land-related institutional and governmental frameworks that have shaped the contemporary land governance and land lease contracts in Ethiopia. It also examines the effectiveness of the land lease process regarding economic, social, and environmental expectations from agricultural outsourcing. Both qualitative and quantitative data analyses were used and results showed that the size of the land cultivated by investors is significantly lower than the agreed-upon size in the contract. Besides, the supply of land to large-scale commercial investors in Ethiopia is made without adequate land use planning, land valuation, and risk analysis. Furthermore, limitations in monitoring systems have contributed to meager socio-economic gains and led to deforestation. Accordingly, the study concludes that supplying vast tracts of farmland to large-scale agricultural investors requires integrated land use planning, land valuation and governance, monitoring systems, and a capacity to implement the various social and environmental laws in coordination with other sectors. Improving rural infrastructure, particularly road, is also indispensable to enhance the level of performance of commercial farms. Last but most importantly, the customary land holding rights of residents should be respected and institutionally recognized.  \nKeywords: land grabbing; sustainable agriculture; food security; sustainable development; land lease  \n1. Introduction  \n1.1. Transnational Land Acquisition  \nAmong the academia, practitioners, policy makers, and institutions involved in the transnational land acquisition, or the “land grabbing” and land deals, there is lots of debate with full of discontents, emotions, and justifications. Most of the recent literature highlight the term “land grabbing” as a contemporary phenomenon caused by the combined effects of the global stock market crash and the food and energy crisis of 2008/2009 [1–4] . However, the term was also mentioned in earlier works by Karl Marx for the first time in the context of the enclosures of England: “The laborers are first driven  \nSustainability 2016, 8, 213; [doi:10.3390/su8030213 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability](doi:10.3390/su8030213 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability)  \nfrom the land, and then come the sheep. Land grabbing on a great scale, such as was perpetrated in England, is the first step in creating a fieldfor the establishment of agriculture on a great scale” [5] . Following the global financial crisis as well as the increasing demand for food and bio-fuel and th","cbCaifTHI6SdusUM","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifTHI6SdusUM","pdf",1456939,27,"English","# Introduction\n## Transnational Land Acquisition\n# Sustainability\n## Land Lease Marketing in Sub-Saharan Africa\n# Institutional and Governance Frameworks","[{\"question\":\"What is the main focus of the study on Ethiopia’s land lease process?\",\"answer\":\"The study describes how institutional and governmental frameworks shape Ethiopia’s land governance and land lease contracts, and assesses the process against economic, social, and environmental expectations.\"},{\"question\":\"What do the results show about land cultivated versus contract size?\",\"answer\":\"Investors cultivate a significantly smaller area than the size agreed upon in the land lease contracts.\"},{\"question\":\"Which shortcomings are linked to socio-economic impacts and deforestation?\",\"answer\":\"Inadequate land use planning, land valuation, risk analysis, and limitations in monitoring systems are associated with weak socio-economic gains and deforestation.\"}]","How Sustainable Is Transnational Farmland Acquisition in Ethiopia? - Lessons Learned from the Benishangul-Gumuz Region | PDF",9]