Located in central Ethiopia, the Arssi region is one of the most productive in Ethiopia yet it has so far been neglected by scholars. This book scrutinizes the rural development of Arssi by focusing on the Swedish supported experimental venture known as the Chilalo Agricultural Development Unit (CADU) and later as the Arssi Rural Development Unit (ARDU).

Ketebo Abdiyo Ensene investigates how effectively this strategy empowered the peasantry to change their farming techniques and produce beyond subsistence level. He also examines the accumulation of alienated land by the northern Ethiopian nobility through land grants, fake purchases, and other futile means of land grabs and the impact that this had on the native population. Finally, the book reassess the importance of the rural land reform of 1975 that followed the collapses of the imperial regime and argues that this was the most significant event in the history of agricultural development in Ethiopia. The assessment of the book in fact goes into the post-1991 period in relation with agrarian development.

The Political Economy of Land and Agrarian Development in Ethiopia will be of interest to scholars of Ethiopia, African Studies, economic history, political economy, development and agriculture.