Table 1 provides information on total land area allocated to commercial farms in different regions by time of establishment, owner’s nationality, main crop, and the main negotiating partner (direct negotiation with locals, woreda, region, or federal government). While commercial farms acquired sizeable amounts of land over time, neither total nor average amounts of land transferred are close to figures reported in some of the literature (Land Matrix 2015; Oakland Institute 2011; Rulli et al. 2013).<sup>10</sup> A total of 1.33 million hectares was transferred to 6,612 commercial farms operational in 2013/14, i.e., some 200 hectares per farm, compared to 9.6 million hectares cultivated by smallholder farms. Average farm size varies across regions: it is highest in Gambella (462 ha per farm)<sup>11</sup> followed by Benishangul and Oromia (293 and 290 ha per farm, respectively), and that of SNNP and Afar regions (163 and 140 ha, respectively). Average farm size in Tigray and Amhara regions is roughly a fourth and a fifth of what is observed in Gambella, and the lowest in Somali region with just 16 ha per farm.

Of the 6,612 commercial farms, most (28%) are in of Amhara, followed by SNNP (25%), Tigray (15%), Benishangul (12%), Oromia (11%), and Afar, Gambella, and Somali (together 9%). The highest share of land area initially transferred to investors was in SNNP (25%), followed by Benishangul (21%), Oromia (18%), Amhara (15%) and Tigray (10%). Meanwhile, the contribution of Gambella (excluding land transferred to Karuturi Global Limited) and Afar was, respectively, about 7% and 4% of the total land transferred, and that of Somali region was a mere 0.01%. About 87% of the 6,344 farms that provided information on the size of the initial land allocation on average received area of land between 20 and 500 ha and only 6.4% received above 500 ha. Similarly, of the farms providing information on the owner’s nationality, 97% are purely Ethiopian owned and only 134 or 36 are, respectively, held purely by or jointly with foreigners. In line with the policy change since 1991, most of Ethiopia’s commercial farms are owned and operated by private owners (93% of the farms holding about 78% of initially land transfers) while some 2% of farms with 15% of initially awarded land are owned by government and the remainder are owned and operated by producer cooperatives. Government owned farms are primarily located in Oromia where they account for 93% of initial land transfers, with 83% of farms having been established before 1991.

A total of 302 farms were established before 1991, mainly in Oromia and SNNP, with a mean initial land allocation of 684 ha per farm. Subsequently, the number of farms established per year reached 315 in 200206, peaked at 793 during the 2007/08 commodity price boom, and fell to 546 and 371, respectively, in the 2009/10 and 2011/13 period. In other words new commercial farm establishment in 2013 had dropped to the level attained before the 2007 food price boom. Mean size of initial land transfer was, with some 80 ha, smallest in 1991/2, gradually increasing to 223 ha during the 2011-13 period.

> 10 “Our research shows that approximately 3,619,509 ha of land have been awarded, as of January 2011” (Oakland Institute 2011: p. 18). 11 Note that Karuturi Global Limited, a company that acquired 100,000 ha of farmland in Gambella in 2008 and that is now deemed to be bankrupt, is not included in the computation of total area and average farm size.

8