Land Ownership Laws End Poverty in Africa?
Conflicts over the appropriation of land in Africa can be traced back to colonial times, when lands were deeded to settlers at the expense of the local communities, and later, when countries began to pull out of colonies, to favored tribes and factions.
During the 20th century, many countries across sub-Saharan Africa chose to nationalize lands in order to redress such inequalities, and today many unique factors such as increased competition due to population growth, decreased supply of arable land due to climate change, poor land records, and general corruption have led to conflicts in the region.
A new report published by the World Bank reveals that stronger land ownership laws and management may be the key to improving agricultural productivity across the continent within the next decade. Land policy and management reform is necessary to alleviating poverty because land is often the most valuable asset that people can own, and because countries with clear land tenure policies are seen as better potential investments.
If sound policies are in place, the land can also be a mechanism for the transfer of wealth through generations. Furthermore, lack of access to land hits those in rural areas the hardest because the majority of the population depends on land for the production of food. A 2008 report from the Southern African Development Community states that the key to easier land access is a reduction of costly transfer fees and policies that make sure that the possibility of land ownership is a right for people of all demographics, regardless of ethnicity or sex.
The World Bank study also states that while many African countries have legal institutions that are capable of documenting land ownership, only about ten percent of rural land is registered. This leads to land disputes and even “land grabbing” after the death of land owners. In cases where land is held by groups or tribes, there also needs to be a method of registering communal land. More collaboration between countries would also be extremely useful, as there are some countries that appear to be getting the process right. Tanzania, for example, has registered sixty percent of its communal land at a fraction of the cost that other nations are completing the task (approximately $77 kilometer to Ghana’s $500-700 per kilometer).
Concerning land registration, disputes are bound to happen, but according to the World Bank, the establishment of impartial, uncorrupted institutions that are capable of dealing with such disputes is necessary. In some countries, like Ghana, tribunals specialized to deal with land issues have blossomed as subsidiary branches of already existing judicial systems, but they are unsurprisingly just as vulnerable to corruption and backlog as any other governmental system. The study states that most successful approaches to alleviating this include paying judges overtime and hiring retired ones to reduce congestion in the system, training judges better in land procedures, and changes in institutional culture where corruption occurs.
People’s identities are often inextricably tied to the land that they or their ancestors lived on and worked. This is not only true for Africa, but also for places all over the world. Thus, it’s vitally important, not only if we are serious about meeting the Millennium Development Goals in reducing poverty, but also if we care about the basic rights to provide for themselves and their families.
– Samantha Mauney
Sources: World Bank, SADC Photo: NPR