FRAGILE EAST-AFRICAN HIGHLANDS - A DEVELOPMENT VISION FOR SMALLHOLDERFARMERS IN THE ETHIOPIAN HIGHLANDS

For societies that depend on agriculture, the process of meeting curre nt or future welfare demands should not continue without regard to the potential long-term dangers of land resource over-use, With an increa sing human and animal population in the Ethiopian highlands developmen t efforts so far have been hasty and disjointed, and have sidetracked issues of production base security and conservation, As a result, larg e-scale degradation has ensued, and if the trend continues the agricul tural future of the country is threatened. Cohesive land-use practices are needed in order to manage the fragile Ethiopian highland resource environment properly and to support growing human demands.