Land degradation, agricultural productivity and common property: evidence from Côte d'Ivoire

Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2014

Do. We also thank the Commission Universitaire pour le Développement and the Agence Française de Développement for financial support.

2021

In Cote d'Ivoire, as in many African countries, social tensions are frequently linked to a crisis of the rule of property law. These socio-legal conflicts are referred to by various names depending on their subject matter or the time and place in which they arise: law crises, the weakness of the State apparatus, the unsuitability and failure of institutions, and so on. However, in the majority of cases, these conflicts stem from a common phenomenon: weak land tenure security, or more precisely, land insecurity. The awareness of the magnitude of the problem of securing land tenure and its formalization through the "PAMOFOR" project (in which we participated as a research group and technical land operator), leads us to ask the following questions: How can we master the analysis of land governance and land tenure security in Côte d'Ivoire? And what is its current state? Indeed, an assessment of land governance in Cote d'Ivoire is required. To accomplish this goal,...

Challenges in African Agriculture, 2010

What land policies can safeguard farming activities, and also boost labor productivity, avoid growing inequalities and tensions, and better manage natural resources over time? Given the complex historical heritage, the diversity of ecosystems, and the growing appetite for land, to imagine and actually implement new policies requires mobilizing the support of stakeholders (particularly the government and producer organizations) and raising the necessary resources. One issue that deserves attention is the evolution of farm structure and especially farm size.

2013

iTC is an innovative programme to secure rural communities’ land rights and enable more productive, sustainable and inclusive land use. Mozambique’s 1997 Land Law enables registration of community tenure rights through simple land delimitation processes, as well as private leasehold titling for investors large and small. In a context of rapid growth and weak land governance and administration, private land allocation has dominated, sometimes leading to conflict. Nevertheless iTC has achieved significant results in assisting communities to secure land rights and establish land and natural resource based businesses and partnerships, overcoming misunderstanding amongst state and market actors, and resolving conflicts. Lessons include the needs for more systematic investment in community social preparation, land delimitations in contiguous village clusters, and development of community based land management institutions and legal instruments and practical guidelines to regulate communit...

Journal of Agribusiness and Rural Development, 2022

Large-scale farming relies on favourable land tenure systems. However, conflicting land tenure is affecting agribusiness development in Sub-Saharan Africa. A key question is whether Côte d'Ivoire, the world's leading producer of cocoa, has been spared from the challenge of rampant land tenure facing commercial farming. This paper is a reflection on the consequences of legal pluralism on the development of agribusiness. Through a case study of a region of southeastern Cote d'Ivoire, it intends to demonstrate that the coexistence of neo-customary and bureaucratic forms of land tenure constitutes a major obstacle for agribusiness development. Qualitative methods were employed, including individual interviews and focus group discussions. The results reveal that land tenure systems are intricately linked to the complexity of agribusiness development. The study further finds that land tenure systems are a source of conflict between agribusiness developers and smallholders. Hence, agribusiness finds it difficult to grow due to land tenure systems, which cause immense hardships for agribusiness developers in South Comoé. The case of the South Comoé region, therefore, articulates a compelling need for policymakers to consolidate the land tenure system which has failed to secure land for agribusiness development.

2006

The publication of this synthesis has been funded by DFID, which supports policies, programmes and projects to promote international development. DFID provided funds for this study as part of that objective but the views and opinions expressed are those of the authors alone. Coordinated by IIED, CLAIMS involved fieldwork in four West African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Mali) and mobilised a network of eight research institutions:

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 1998

conomists usually explain the emergence of private property rights, E especially since the publication of Demsetz's well-known paper ' ,'roperly arid Agriciiltitral Dynamics in the Ivory CL .I 319 ' From Usufruct to Private Property Rights irz Larad: An Ideal Type f o r thè Southern Ivory Coast ! 'l'bis section discusses the traditional land tenure system and its evolution in the context of the southern Ivory Coast.

2016

Charles and Pioupare Françoise (Plate-forme de plaidoyer genre, changements climatiques et tenures foncières et forestières or TENFOREST-Burkina Faso), Maixent Fortunin Agnimbat Emeka and Dieuvel Steve Ata (Forum pour la Gouvernance et les Droits de l'Homme or FGDH-Congo), Felicien Kabamba and Serge Ngwato (Conseil pour la défense environnementale par la légalité et la traçabilité or CODELT-DRC) and Rita Uwaka (Environmental Rights Action or ERA-Nigeria). All ACRN members have endorsed this initiative from the starting point. But we are even more grateful to those who took some of their precious time to review the Index, comment on the report and share it in their respective countries. Those include: Samuel Nguiffo and Robinson Djeukam (Cameroon), Protet Ondo Essono (Gabon), Kyeretwie Opoku (Ghana) and Silas Siakor (Liberia). Finally, we thank our honorary African, Liz Alden Wily, who has helped us with the idea of the Index from the beginning and has been a firm supporter of the principle that African land issues should be in Africans' hands and dealt with from local perspectives. Saskia Ozinga, always our supporter, has also encouraged us. ii The state of Community Land Rights in Africa Preface Rural communities all over Africa are deeply concerned. Millions of people do not know whether or not their land rights are secure, especially their rights to their off-farm forests and rangelands. For decades, rural communities have been told that their customary rights do not count as property rights and are therefore not protected. Their lands may be taken at will. Communities are particularly alarmed by the current surge in large-scale land allocations. Will their lands be next? What can they do to prevent their land from being taken? Will their governments support them, or will they say they no land rights because they have no documents to prove ownership? At the same time, rural communities all over Africa are seeing more interest in their plight. They no longer feel so isolated. Many can access the internet, even in remote areas. They read about sister countries on the continent where rural populations have more legal land security than themselves. They want to get engaged in changing the situation in their own countries. The African Community Rights Network (ACRN) comprises around 40 NGOs working on these concerns. They, and the communities they work with, want to know more. They want to be empowered by knowledge. They want facts and figures about other countries to enable them to lobby their policy and decision-makers. They do not want to be fobbed off by claims that the current situation is good for business, and that they should not complain as jobs will result if they surrender their lands to commercial interests. Nor do they want to wait and do nothing for themselves while their governments claim they have matters under control. The African Community Land Transparency Index (ACLTI) has been developed with these needs in mind. First, it institutes a system through which accurate information on the status of the majority of rural land rights across the continent can be collected. The facts and findings will be updated every three years. These will be disseminated widely, including to rural communities. Second, the initiative will help build connections throughout Africa on community land rights through applying the Index and through this will strengthen pan-African commitment to resolved a common shared problemthe weak status of customary/community land rights. Why an Index, and how is it different? This initiative entails several innovations. First, ACLTI is an Africa-owned initiative with its roots in rural communities. ACRN comprises NGOs active on the ground and at the national level in their respective countries. The idea for the Index has evolved through meetings of these NGOs over a period of four years, through their shared analysis of concerns, and through grounded commitment to assist rural communities to better secure their land rights. This is not a donor-driven project. It comes from Africans working in Africa on African concerns with their rural communities. The second innovation is that the Index initiative is geared to involve affected communities from the outset. Much information has been collected on land matters by academics, INGOs and others, but often the local context is weak and the views of those affected are not considered. ACLTI offers a more grounded approach. It involves local organizations with strong connections in rural communities, collecting information on the ground, and sharing with those same communities the findings of more technically complex assessments of the legal status of their rights. A third innovation is that the Index adopts a comparative approach across countries. Realities and This report has been written for ease of reading, and without academic apparatus such as footnotes or references. At the same time, we have made every effort to ensure that it does not leave you feeling disappointed or doubtful. All the information it contains has been carefully checked. However, that does not mean that it is devoid of mistakes or misinterpretations. Therefore your input will be much appreciated, not only because of your ability to initiate and boost reforms, but also because you can help ACRN and its NGO members to increase their knowledge of issues regarding land rights, and about this initiative. Welcome to the first report of the African Community Land Index. We are embarking on an adventure.

This paper discusses the critically aspects of how land tenure systems and the access and utilization of land could be address to facilitate rural development. The paper takes Africa as a case study and it looks at some of the concerns associated with land tenure and the impacts of bad tenure practices and systems and policies. The paper will review some land tenure related literatures based on the review it will then offer some key recommendations on how improving land access and utilization could bring about rural development.