Building Harmonized Private and State Land Data and Information System

Different government institutions in Ethiopia working on land related issues tackle and manage data and information independently while their activities and mandates are often related or even overlapping. Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) deals with small holder rural land and until recently the Ethiopian Horticulture and Agricultural Investment Authority (EHAIA) was dealing with commercial agricultural land. Those institutions have not been able to share information each other’s data to make informed decisions. The lack shared data has in some cases led to investment land allocations that overlap with small holder farmers’ areas or national protected areas. This challenge is currently being addressed by joint initiatives involving MoA supported by the Finnish Government funded REILA project and by the EU and Germany (BMZ) co-financed “Support to Responsible Agricultural Investment” (S2RAI) project.MoA with support of REILA has developed the National Rural Land Administration Information System (NRLAIS) which includes transaction processes and cadaster of individual land user rights. NRLAIS is the key system in the development of an integrated harmonized land administration.