Dispossessed and Exposed: Bearing the Burden of Development and Breathing Dust Among Rural Farmers in Ethiopia

To accomplish rapid economic growth, the Ethiopian government has prioritized industrial expansion, including the increase of cement factories across the country. Although these projects promise progress, they have also displaced smallholder farmers and placed several health and environmental burdens on nearby communities. This article explores the lived experiences of residents living near the Kuyu Cement Factory in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, where persistent exposure to dust and industrial emissions put their health and environment at risk. Drawing on fieldwork in the Kuyu district, the study reveals how uncontrolled industrial operations have reduced agricultural yields, weakened livestock, depleted natural resources, and degraded the local environment. The study also explores how farmers who lost land responded to pollution through strategies of adaptation and resistance, highlighting their constrained agency in the face of state-led industrial development. By advancing the concept of accumulation by pollution, this article shows how industrial contamination functions as a mechanism of rural dispossession, reshaping land access, livelihoods, and health among smallholder farmers. The findings indicate that these impacts are not accidental but stem from development plans that prioritize economic growth over local well-being, public health, and ecological justice. By linking pollution directly to rural household experiences and constrained agency, this study contributes empirically and conceptually to debates on environmental justice in the Global South and underscores the need for development policies that protect both people and ecosystems they depend on.