The federal government is preparing to incorporate farmlands located in the peripheries of Addis Abeba under the urban cadastre system, amending an eight-year-old law that governs urban landholding registration. Officials hope the move will serve as an antidote to a controversial issue that has been at the forefront since 2014.

A widespread perception that the federal government had plans to expand the capital into the surrounding farmland ignited violent protests since 2016, threatening to engulf the country in chaos.

A cadastral map displays the boundaries and holdings of land parcels and registers the real estate of a given area. The system has two components. The Real Estate Cadastral System computes the coordinates of a land parcel and enables the merging and splitting of parcels in the interest of leaseholders. The Real Estate Property Registration System, where authorities register information related to lease-holding such as legal registration, name transfer and mortgage documents.

The amendment introduces a uniform urban land management system, according to Aragie Kibret, director of communications at the Federal Urban Land & Land Related Property Registry & Information Agency.

The Agency is soon to subordinate itself to the Ministry of Urban Development & Infrastructure.

The bill, which amends the existing urban landholding registration proclamation, proposes urban land parcels, including farmlands, are mapped and demarcated through aerial photography and ground surveys. The current regime does not recognise the capital's farmlands, putting the landowners in a precarious position. A lack of documentation proving ownership has meant that farmers in these areas receive little in the way of compensation if their land is taken by eminent domain for development purposes.

Around 70,000 farming households reside within the capital's peripheries, mainly in the Bole, Yeka and Akaki districts, according to a 2017 report from UN-Habitat.

Thousands of farmers in the peripheries of Addis Abeba have been displaced since a renewal programme for the urban land regime was launched two decades ago to make room for public projects such as condominium housing. According to the report, between the mid-1990s and 2016, close to 32,000 farmers in five districts have been displaced due to infrastructure development, public housing, and transportation projects.

One such area is in the Nifas-Silk Lafto District. The condominium complex constructed in an area known as Jemo, one of the largest housing projects in the city, is split into three zones incorporating over 10,000 units.

Yilma Gemachu, 76, is a farmer who lives with his six children in Jemo. He was forced to surrender 3.5ht of land for the public housing project a decade ago. He now lives in a two-bedroom housing 1.5Km away from the farmland he had inherited from his father. It has since shrunk down to half a hectare.

“I gave up my land,” Yilma told Fortune. “The compensation I had received was nothing compared to the land I lost.”

Yilma was paid 3.75 Br a square metre (112,500 Br in total) for his lost land. He still depends on what little he has left, farming up to five quintals of teff each year.

According to Aragie, the amendment will help protect the rights of farmer like Yilma to land use by availing a complete cadastral map and an improved documentation process.

“The bill allows farmers to register their farmland into the cadastre system," he said. "They can sell their property based on market prices."