Abstract:
In many ways urban sprawl is a phenomenon which ultimately converts the agricultural
land into urban land and it may affecttheperipheral farming household’slivelihood.
However, there is limited evidence in Ethiopia in relation to effect of urban sprawl on
livelihood of farming households around Shashemene town. Thus, the main objective of
thisstudy wastoevaluateurbansprawland itseffectsontheperipheral farming householdsof
Shashemenne town.Descriptive research methodwas applied using both qualitative and
quantitative approaches. A household survey was conducted with 228 sampled
households selected throughsystematic random sampling techniques. The
primarydatawerecollectedthroughquestionnaire,interviews,observationandfocusgroupd
iscussion,while the secondary data gathered from published and unpublished sources.
Furthermore,quantitativedatawasanalyzedusingdescriptivestatistics suchasfrequency
andpercentage;qualitativedatawereanalyzedbyusing narrativeanalysis.The results of
the study indicated that the horizontal expansion of Shashemenne town brought
significant negativeeffect on theperipheral farming household’slivelihoodboth
economically and socio-culturally. On top of this, the
expansionprogramwasnotparticipatory, andtheexpropriated
householdsdidnotgetopportunitytobargaininthedeterminationoftheamountandkinds
ofcompensations.Thecompensation andbenefitpackagesprovidedso
fardidnotcapacitatetheexpropriated farmers of the peri-urban area of thetown.There was
no post expropriation follow-up and rehabilitation support for expropriated peri-urban
farmers.Generally, urban expansion, expropriation and compensation program in the
future needs toinvolve theperipheral farming
household’sandcompensationshouldberevisedbothinkind and amount involving
rehabilitation support, skill developmenttraining and post expropriation follow-up.
