Abstract:
Land is an essential resource for country like Ethiopia whose economy is dependent on
agriculture. Socio- economic status of rural households of Ethiopia is influenced by many
factors of which land holding is the major one. The major objective of this study was to assess
the Effects of land holding size on socio-economic status of rural small holder farmers in the
Hababo Guduru Woreda. In this study land holding size of the respondent, Ways of access to
land, Housing type, Educational attainment of the family, Migration status, Health status,
Land fragmentations and its impact, Households use of agricultural technology, Estimate net
income of house hold heads, Average distance of plot of land from respondent’s home were
analyzed using descriptive statics. For this study both primary and secondary data were used
to generate the required information. The primary data were collected from 260 sample
smallholder house hold heads of the three kebele, namely Gudenededu, Lelistuloya and
Sirbaloya through household questionnaires and, interview, focus group discussion and direct
observation were also employed. Besides, secondary data have also been drawn from various
sources to complement the primary data. The study showed some findings: 90% of respondent
have family size of ≥5-7, 63% of them have < 1hec.of land, 62% lived in poor congested grass
roofed house, 33% sent none of their child to school, 88% cannot regularly visit health center
due to economic reason, only 2% used highly modern technology. The recommendation that
the investigator suggested was that there should be free and informed discussion to solve the
problem by all sectors of the population and government officials. Supporting small holder
family by providing functional, practical and productive education and improved agricultural
technologies, Review of land policy in line with small holders, Extensive family planning
education to rural households, especially small holder family and evaluating the result at
local and regional level.
