From Arba Minch to Chencha, Tadesse’s research location (see map 12).
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Waypoint 239 | Lat. 6° 9′ 7.73″ N / Long. 37° 34′ 36.67″ E View down towards Arba Minch and the western shore of Lake Abaya (photographs No. 38-39). The huge areas cleared for state and cooperative farms can be discerned. |
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Waypoint 240 | Lat. 6° 14′ 49.76″ N / Long. 37° 35′ 10.66″ E Chencha, Tadesse’s research location, altitude 2575 m. Photograph |
The Chencha people, who have a mixed economy with highland and lowland crops, had secondary homes in the lowland areas. But some of these areas were taken for commercial farms employing labourers from central Ethiopia. Under the "land for the tiller" policy of the Derg, some such farms were subdivided and given to the labourers. Tadesse believes that violent clashes between these new occupants and the original owners are imminent.