Plural Medical Systems In The Horn Of Africa: The Legacy Of Sheikh Hippocrates by Slikkerveer

Author:Slikkerveer [Slikkerveer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781136143304
Google: 5eErBgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-10-28T05:53:16+00:00

Table 4.11 shows that the Oromo dominate all three categories of land ownership. Twenty-six of the thirty-six Amhara household heads in the sample farmed on their own land; the remaining ten pieces of land worked by the Amhara originally belonged to Amhara landowners who had been given land as soldiers or public officials. Under the new Land Reform Act, it was conveyed to Oromo or Somali farmers as well as to the Amhara farmers who had previously rented the plots.

Although Oromo and Somali in particular originally derived prestige from owning cattle, for economic reasons this phenomenon has declined considerably because of the absence of suitable pasture. A number of farmers also keep sheep and goats in addition to cattle. Donkeys are often used as means of transport by both farmers and merchants. The research into livestock ownership in the area shows that two-thirds (66.2%) of all households do not own any sheep or goats, partly due to increasing scarcity of land. The largest number of households which still keep sheep or goats – 62 or 22.3% – were Oromo. This includes some ten households which are economically dependent to a large extent on keeping small livestock. The picture with regard to cattle is the same: approximately three-quarters of the sample households did not have any cattle. The largest number of households which owned on average more than one cow were Oromo. Only one-tenth of all households in the sample could afford to keep one or more donkeys. Here, too, the Oromo household heads were in the majority.

Previous research and observation in the field make it possible to assess the annual per capita income of the population in the community as between 200 and 500 bir (1 Ethiopian bir = 0.50 US $) which falls into the category of lowest incomes in Third World countries. A number of problems confronting the population in the area, particularly farmers, created this situation, despite the availability of potential resources. As mentioned before, such factors as drought, failed harvest and disease, together with social and political constraints, have contributed significantly to a situation of actual poverty in which a number of households in the research area, despite recent reforms, still find themselves.

In addition to these external threats, certain factors within the community – such as religious feast days, excessive fasting and imprudent use of chat – sometimes aggravates the difficult situation for many people.

Despite the frequent spells of poverty, various categories of income can be distinguished. By incorporating a number of objective indicators of prosperity in the questionnaire such as income, type and state of repair of the house, size of land and number of cattle and pack-donkeys and by means of a subjective estimate of the welfare of the households by the trained interviewers, it was possible during the quantitative processing of the material to use factor analysis to divide the households into three types of socio-economic status (SES): well-to-do, average and poor. The distribution of these three socio-economic classes among the ethnic groups is set out in Table 4.

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