Education as Adaptive Strategies in the Face of Land Scarcity among the Alla and Nolei Oromo of Lake Haramaya-Tiniqe Watershed, Eastern Ethiopia: Aspiration and Reality

Abstract

The value for women fertility, the shift from pastoral livelihood to sedentary agriculture and polygamous marriage were historic factors for the population surge of Lake Haramaya-Tiniqe Watershed. Because of population surge, land became the scarcest resources. In the area, household landholdings are the only land sources for the new generations. Accordingly, a father should have a responsibility to allocate land for each son at marriage. For instance, a man who has ten sons, will appropriate his land for all of them during marriage. The same is expected for those sons who get mirazaa (one’s own land share) when they have their own sons in the future. Hence, the scarcity of land becomes acute. Amidst of this problem, households are looking for different adaptive strategies. In this regard, education has become one of the adaptive strategies to alleviate land scarcity. Thus, the purpose of this article is to examine the role of education as adaptive strategy in the face of land scarcity. It also attempts to explore whether education has served its purpose up to community’s expectation or not.