Feudal systems of land tenure and feudal relations of production emerged in many different parts of africa. This paper examines the land tenure system in ghana and its impact on the environment. In ghana, statutory laws governing water tenure have replaced andor augmented customary rules. Pdf customary land tenure dynamics at periurban ghana. The indigenous land tenure and nationalization of land in nigeria. Ghana as a country has a peculiar land tenure system. Land tenure policy and economic development in ghana. Biitir department of real estate and land management, university for development studies conference on land policy in africa.
This type of land tenure system is also detrimental to agricultural production given that the creditor my not want to farm on the land since the debtor can reclaim it at any time. The land tenure system in ghana depicts the law of the jungle only the fittest of the fit can survive. It is described as legal tenure system based on customary law. Pdf land in most of africa is controlled under the customary tenure system which is. Acquired land in four african countries, january 2004march 2009 2. However, the land tenure and administration system in ghana faces serious problems which undermine these constitutional guarantees. Debates on land rights in west africa tend to focus on customary forms of land tenure based on social norms rather than written documents they often disagree with state laws. Research on gender land access has largely been skewed towards the adult population with very little attention on the youth. The effects of existing land tenure systems on land use in kenya today chege waiganjo and paul e. It argues that improving the current land tenure policy demands integration of customary land law and customary authorities into the statutory system. Ghana s land tenure systems under the existing arrangement, traditional land owning authorities stool chiefs, clan heads and skins hold allodial absolute ownership title to land on behalf of. T his is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights to the land by some form of title from a lessor or landlord.
The role of cadastral surveying in land development in the western state of nigeria. Its components are the system of land ownership and system of labour organization. System conceptual design and strategy development 200708project design and bid 2009project implementation feb. Rakai fiji land information system support centre department of lands and surveys box 2222, govt buildings, suva, fiji. Ghana has a dual system where statutory and customary land tenure systems run parallel in urban, periurban and rural areas. In ghana, local land governance structures that determine and control land use decisionmaking are chiefs in the centralised traditional political authority of southern ghana and parts of northern region of ghana, families, clans and tendamba 1 in the case of upper west see fig. Tenure system of land involves a system of rights, duties and.
Tool for land use planning lupmis developed and is in use. Land tenure can be defined as the manner in which a party holds or occupies an area of land. Land tenure and related institutions gender and land. Private ownership of land can be acquired by way of a grant, sale, gift or marriage. A conceptual approach for enhancing customary land. Food insecurity remains persistent in the global south due to constraints in food production capacities and intricate land tenure systems that stifle investment in agriculture. Introduction conditions under which a tenure system leads to increases in wealth as omotunde evan george johnson has shown, a land tenure system facilitates increases in wealth when a property rights are properly defined with legal and tenure certainty, and b there is. Cases from wa, wechau and lambussie dominic tuobesaane paaga department of african and general studies university for development studies p. The institutional arrangements for land tenure in ghana can be.
Production in ghana project esp contracted the research team to conduct a detailed analysis. Sustainability and policy for cocoa production in ghana project esp. The existing land tenure systems in each of niger, burkina faso, and mali share similarities, particularly in their recent efforts to protect customary land rights and include them in land records for instance nigers rural code of 1993, malis land code of 20002002, and. Feed the future soybean innovation lab sil is managed by the university of illinois through. Political system ghana has a multiparty system and unicameral parliament. The government of ghanas 1996 water resources commission act vests ownership of all water in the state, which is also responsible for its control and management. Most of the land in ghana is held under customary tenure, and although.
Ghana landlinks landlinks was created by e3land, a. Customary land tenure data into a land information system trans tasman surveyor, vol. Gender dimensions of youth access to agricultural land. Building on tradition and modernity by kasim kasanga and nii ashie kotey february 2001 copies of this publication can be obtained from. The above shows that land tenure system in ghana, like that of other forms of land ownership is seated in antiquity acquaye and murphy, 1973. How africa can transform land tenure, revolutionize. Department of surveying engineering, university of new brunswick. This blog has outlined the different types of land ownership in ghana. Investor profile in ethiopia, ghana, madagascar and mali, january 2004 march 2009, by land area acquired.
The land tenure system in ghana is an amalgam of customary rules and recent statutory overlays 1 23. Communal land is controlled by lineage or clanbased land owning groups and allocated to individuals or households on a usufructuary basis. Customary land tenure system in ghana and its problems yen. Land tenure and economic development in rural south africa.
Regularizing tenure rights of squatters on public land in urban slums that are home to 60 percent of urban dwellers in africa. System maintenance and support 2014system rollout design and bid 2014national land information system infrastructure nlisi establishment december 2014 17nlisi maintenance and support 201720 8. Tf noname bbfaofood and agriculture organization fund. Ghana s land reform and the land administration project 7 2. The role of customary land secretariats in promoting good. Customary land administrator in ghana challenges and prospects shaping the change xxiii fig congress munich, germany, october 8, 2006 411 concerned. Annual world bank con ference on land and poverty 20.
Ghana lis ghana design and development lis phase 1 completed in 2012. Tf053449canadian international development agency cida cofinancing for ghana. The ghana national land policy 1999 has identified a number of difficulties relating to land tenure and administration, e. Any monies accruing out of any deed executed in respect of any such vested land were paid into the appropriate stool account for the purposes of the act. Pdf beyond panaceas in land tenure systems in ghana. These corporate bodies, referred to as customary landholding institutions control over 90% of the total land area in. Land tenure systems and agricultural production in malawi. Customarily, land is communally owned, and customary trustees, such as chiefs, earth.
Ghana is characterized by a pluralistic legal system in which customary and statutory systems governing land overlap. Land use, land tenure and agricultural development in ghana. Ghanas population as at the 2000 population census stands at 18. Land tenure system in the northern nigeria in the northern nigeria in particular before the land use act, 1978 all land in the region with only minors exceptions, were declared native lands and were vested in the commissioner responsible for land matters as trustee for the people of that region 1 1. It is an important factor affecting the present utilization of land in the world and it also serves as a legal instrument through which land reforms can be started or assisted. The land tenure system ideally refers to how access is given in relation to land to either hold, own, rent or lease out to another party. Land tenure and related institutions gender and land rights. Customary land administrator in ghana challenges and. The brevity of the profiles and their standardized organization across countries had made them a useful reference for a generation of development specialists.
Assessment of land tenurerelated constraints to cocoa productivity in ghana 1 executive summary between april 11 and april 23, a team the team consisting of two members of usaids land tenure and resource management office, stephen brooks and yuliya neyman, a member of the world. The system of pastoral land ownership faces many challenges including the categories of ownership. In ghana, land is vested in families and chiefs in the traditional land sector. They mainly exercise the overall authority over land ownership and related issues. Individuals in this region primarily obtain land for. The concept of land ownership on the part of the individual did not exist. The land tenure system is often described as communal. Customary land tenure and its implications for land disputes in ghana. In karamoja, land is owned under the customary land tenure system. The act also gives the state the power to grant water rights. This is a land pledged for money and can be reclaimed by the owner on repayment of the loan. Feudal land tenure is a system of mutual obligations under which a royal or noble personage granted a fiefdom some degree of interest in the use or revenues of a given parcel of land in exchange for a claim on services such as military service or simply maintenance of the land in which the lord continued to have an interest.
Understanding these as well as our post on how to avoid land litigation will help to prevent any struggles when you decide to acquire land types of land ownership. Public lands are lands that are vested in the president for public use 24. Land tenure policy and economic development in ghana joseph blocher this note addresses the intersection of customary and statutory land law in the land tenure policy of ghana. The lands commission, established under the 1971 lands commission act, as provided for by the constitution, is the authority mandated to regulate the size and duration of land transfers as well as to judge their fairness. It is estimated that 80 percent of the land is governed by traditional rulers 22. It is important to stress that although the individual may acquire land and have right to its usage even for life, the truth is that the individual did not own the land as such but enjoyed its usufruct. Exploring genderbiased customary land tenure in ghana. Several case studies were conducted in ghana that empirically analyzed the impact of increased tenure.
The issue of land tenure, allocation, distribution and management since the colonial times has been a bone of contention often leading to conflict as people scramble for the fertile, mineral deposited lands in the republic of ghana. The land administration project lap1 is the first phase of a commitment by the government of ghana to use the land administration programme to reduce poverty and enhance economicsocial growth by improving security of tenure, simplifying the process of acquiring land by the populace, developing the land market and fostering prudent land. Economic reforms that should have generated positive economic and environmental outcomes were often undermined by institutional problems, such as weak managerial capacity and land tenure regimes. Gender and the land access and tenure security project. Land tenure system in nigeria has been described as those systems which represent the relationship of man in society to land even though actual patterns may differ from community to community but there are certain uniformities of type in relations involved which make it possible to apply a common scheme of analysis 1 6. About 80 percent of land in ghana is under customary tenure pande and udry 2005. Land tenure system can be defined as the rights and institution that governs access to and use of land. These corporate bodies, referred to as customary landholding institutions control over 90% of the total land area. The case of wa municipality, ghana presented by samuel b.
Introduction in africa, a large portion of arable land is in tenure by smallscale farmers often women. Land rights and land conflicts in africa carried out for the danish ministry of foreign affairs and coordinated by. Customary land tenure customary tenure is the mode of holding rights in land that exists through customs and tradition. Pdf customary land allocation, urbanization and land use. Accra was selected because it is the capital city of ghana with more complex land tenure ownership and registration procedures which slows investment and development. In the urbanized regions, uncontrolled urbanization and noncompliant. Land tenure in pastoral societies of tanzania comprises of two key concepts namely, territory which denotes land as defined by the jurisdiction of state or community, etc and domain which refers to the range of. Review of existing land tenure arrangements in cocoa. Communal land is controlled by lineage or clanbased landowning groups and allocated to individuals or households on a usufructuary basis. Pdf land tenure basically refers to the system of formal and informal. Land in ghana is held from various stoolskin lands, families or clans, which are the allodial owners. Box 520, wa, ghana abstract land disputes remain a major hindrance to land use and tenure security in most parts of ghana.
Explaining the different types of land tenure daily monitor. Most of the agricultural land in ghana is under communal ownership. Research from the university of london in the uk examines how legal pluralism might compare to a single state system for land rights in ghana and cote divoire. Review of existing land tenure arrangements in cocoa growing areas and their implications for the cocoa sector in ghana. Different platforms approach tested use of cots and use of floss fao sola. This study thus investigates youth access to agricultural land under the customary land tenure regime in ghana focusing on gender dimensions. Land tenure system in ghana has been marred by some uncouth traditional institutions such as. Customary lands constitute about 80% of all lands in the country whiles the remaining 20% is owned by the state adugyamfi, 2012. The rules governing land tenure are invented by societies to regulate land ownership behaviours. Four years ago, naboth amanya paid shs15m for seven acres of land.
The interest shown in the conference and debate on land tenure issues and challenges. Land use regulations and urban planning initiatives in. May 11, 2003 ghanas land tenure system impedes the countrys socioeconomic development, and is completely out of place in a modern, progressive country. Tackling the weak governance and corruption endemic to the land governance system in many african countries which often favor the status quo and harm the interests of poor people. Implications of incorporating customary land tenure data into. Land acquisitions are broadly defined to include not only the purchase of ownership rights but also the acquisition of user rights, for instance through leases or concessions, whether short or long term. Insights from resilience and adaptive governance of socialecological systems chapter may 2014 with 205 reads how we measure reads. Ghana on youth land access especially youth gender land access dynamics. Apr 30, 2009 in some areas land tenure evolved a political and land tenure system that could also be described as evolving towards a quasi or semifeudal type. Lap documents have intermittently paid attention to womens rights issues. Land tenure may be defined as the terms and conditions on which land is held, used and transacted. Land use regulations and urban planning initiatives in accra. Compliance with residential building standards in the.
Dec 27, 2018 land tenure is another phrase for land ownership, frequently used outside of the united states. Customary land tenure and its implications for land disputes. In most parts of the country, particularly in the northern regions, women generally have difficulties in accessing land except where there is a male guarantor, or where. Ghana land tenure system history during the precolonial era and up until the late 19th century, land ownership in ghana was practiced differently than in western countries. They chart the entire range of land tenure agents from the ghanaian state and its bureaucrats, through donors and foreign investors to private ghanaian investors. The system of land administration in the country is currently undergoing restructuring under the land administration project lap, initiated in 2003. Land tenure reform refers to a planned change in the terms and conditions e. Background and justification tenure documentation is significant for every country, especially in the developing world. A synthesis of the literature 4 locations influence womens tenure rights and security. The new patriotic party npp won a majority over the national democratic congress ndc in the presidential and parliamentary elections in december 2016, in which ghanas economic performance was a key election topic. There are many different types of land tenure, including private and public ownership, and each type of land tenure comes with a bundle of rights for the use and disposition of the property. Land tenure documentation essentially entails the writing of the name of the person and the right held by the. It also championed the struggle for independence and the political and economic emancipation of the rest of the countries on the continent in the 1960s. Introduction concern about land tenure and its impact on land use as well as the management of natural.
Acta universitatis agriculturae et silviculturae mendelianae brunensis, 646. The vast majority 68% of ghanas land is used for agriculture and 15% of it is used as permanent natural pastures. The great majority of land in ghana is held informally, under customary tenure systems. The main forms of land tenure systems are explained and the positive and negative impacts of each of these forms on the environment analysed. Customary laws are often based on experience of some social group, and are aimed at defending the interest of the group. Ghanas land tenure system impedes the countrys socioeconomic development, and is completely out of place in a modern, progressive country. Vast areas of savannah and semidesert land are in tenure by pastoralists and indigenous communities.
The problems of the land tenure system are only one. Ghana land administration project english the world bank. Donors could support ghanas customary land tenure systems by. Two of these operated nationwide while the others followed the usual north. Lessons of experience and emerging issues lorenzo cotula, camilla toulmin and ced hesse february 2004 copies of this publication can be obtained from. The land tenure country profiles presented here are a new edition of a continentwide set of profiles prepared and published by the land tenure center a decade ago, in 1986. By contrast, the traditional communal land tenure system in ghana, in which land is managed by a chief, head of a family or stool for the benefit of a community, does not, based on the research conducted for the purpose of this paper, have a similar record with respect to the.
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