In 'Emerging migrant workers and aspiring capitalist farmers in the aftermath of the land rush in Ethiopia', PhD researches Moges Belay argues that the recent emergence of aspiring small- and medium-size capitalist farmers in Ethiopia results from the land rush over the past 20 years.
He argues that this emerging sector, that shows great dynamism in land and capital accumulation, has emerged not only and not primarily from the agriculture sector, but from non-agricultural and urban sectors mainly.
He further shows the inseparability, empirically and analytically, of land and labour, as well as production and social reproduction dynamics in explaining the character and trajectory of social change. The role played by migrant labour in the land rush has been manifested in two interconnected ways underpinned by a singular logic and social force, that is, the capitalist commodification of land and labour, namely, outward labour migration away from the land grab sites, and the inward migrant labour inflows into the same land grabs sites.
Read the article online - 'Emerging migrant workers and aspiring capitalist farmers in the aftermath of the land rush in Ethiopia'. Agriculture and Human Values April 2025.
- PhD student
- Related links
- Commodity & land rushes and regimes research project