CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABLE LAND USE IN AFRICA SCALING UP COMMUNITY BASED TOOLS TO SECURE LAND RIGHTS; LESSONS FROM THE COCOA BELT IN GHANA MARK KAKRABA-AMPEH

CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABLE LAND USE IN AFRICA

SCALING UP COMMUNITY BASED TOOLS TO SECURE LAND RIGHTS; LESSONS FROM THE COCOA BELT IN GHANA

MARK KAKRABA-AMPEH & ERIC YEBOAH

LAND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT CENTRE

IN THIS PRESENTAION

• Background• The Search for Tools to Secure the Rights of Vulnerable groups• LRMC Innovative Tools - How Innovative and Sustainable?• Scaling Up• Lessons Learnt • Conclusion


Customary Tenancies and Vulnerability

• In most developing countries, land for farming is by customary tenancies which are seldom reduced into writing.• The parcels are rarely surveyed and demarcated• Boundaries are very often contested • In the absence of documented rights, vulnerable groups end up losing

their lands and sometimes their farms, as a result of litigation, alienation of the land to would be investors, urban growth and state acquisition through the power of eminent domain.


Pressure on Land from

• Large Scale Land Acquisitions for Agricultural Investments


Customary Tenancies and Vulnerability

Mining :Legal large scale & illegal small scale


Peri-urban Agric land replaced by Residential Development


Pressure on Land from

The Search for Tools to Secure the Rights of Vulnerable groups• Globally, and particularly in Africa, there is a growing search for local land

tools that could promote security of tenure, most importantly for the poor and small holder family farmers.• The need to secure land rights in agrarian contexts cannot be

overemphasized because of • potentially positive correlation between secure land rights and agricultural

productivity and improved farmer income which may lead to poverty reduction.

• The need to provide protection for vulnerable groups such as women and migrant family farmers against threats of dispossession and displacement from stronger and financially resourced individuals, corporate bodies and state institutions with the growing pressure on land.


In Ghana, the need to secure the rights of vulnerable family farmers has been recognised and a number of interventions have gone on

• MEDEEM Project with Support from CNFA in the Wassa Amenfi area in the Western

• Rural Parcel Rights Demarcation Project under LAP1, in Ejisu. Currently being up scaled with a target of 25,000

• MiDA Rural Parcel Demarcation and Registration in the Central Region

• Innovative Tools Project by LRMC/IIED

Some Interventions in Ghana

LRMC Innovative Tools- How Innovative?

• Community Based Land Survey Tool (A participatory approach of mapping which incorporates high accuracy surveying technology to document land rights at a cost which is about 70 percent lower than the open market rates) • Flexible Agreement Templates to effectively document land rights and

land transactions founded on customary tenancy arrangements. • Spousal Transfer Template which seeks to secure land rights from a

gendered perspective • ADR for dispute resolution as an integral part of the Survey process


Sustainability of the Tools

• Filling Policy Gaps (Documenting Customary Tenancies for Registration)• Community Ownership based on participatory processes and

building on existing local customary practices• Affordability• Flexibility for adoption/adaption in different cultural

environments• Alignment with national standards to ensure migration into

public registration system as and when a farmer desires so to do


Scaling Up

• Besides identification of appropriate tools for promotion of tenure security for customarily held lands, the greatest challenge for successful community-based demonstration projects is to expand the reach of these programs to cover a much larger population without compromising the quality of implementation necessary to achieve similar results on this larger scale. (Gonzales et. Al., 1998).


The Growing Need for Scaling Up of Tools• Pachico and Fujisaka, 2004, observe that: • The issue of scaling up has been the centre of much recent debate within

research and development (R&D) institutions, especially those in Natural Resource Management…. This interest has arisen in the context of several important developments in thinking about R&D.

First, donors and civil society are increasingly pressuring that money spent in R&D must bring about lasting impact on the lives of the rural poor.

Second, the recognition that many relevant technologies and approaches are not achieving their full potential impact because of low levels of adoption has led to more emphasis on the effectiveness of research to produce adoptable technological options.


Six key elements identified for effective scaling up of tools

Building capacity;

Information and

Learning;

Building Linkages;

Engaging in Policy

dialogueSustaining the process

(funding)

Incorporating scaling up considerations in project planning;


IIRR, 2000; Franzel et al., 2001; Gonsalves,

2001 and Gundel, 2001

The LRMC Tools Designed with Scaling Up in mind

• The LRMC Community-Based Land Tools development project, “Innovative Tools to Secure Land Rights for Family Farmers in West Africa”, coordinated by International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), had as one of the key objectives

•“the establishment of foundation for Scaling Up the tools tested by the project”.


The LRMC Tools Designed with Scaling Up in mind

Project implementation processes placed emphasis on • Low-cost of tools• Effective and replicable approaches that build on local practice and

innovation. • To maximize the potential for uptake and sustainability, the project

identified existing institutions such as Customary Land Secretariats, Offices of Traditional Councils and Commissioner of Oaths (Licensed Public Notaries) operating in the communities as key collaborators for institutionalizing the tools. • Laying the foundation for scaling up the LRMC’s Community-Based Land

Tools also involved Lesson Learning and Sharing Workshops to promote awareness of the tools and the processes of tools development.


SCALING UP IN THE COCOA GROWING AREAS IN GHANA

Areas in the Cocoa Growing Belt where the Tools are currently being upscaled

Tepa Traditioanal Area in the Ashanti Region of Ghana

Enchi Traditional Area in the Western Region of Ghana

SOME FACTS• Cocoa is grown mostly by family farmers in

6 out of the 10 regions of Ghana

• There are about 800,000 family farmers undertaking cocoa cultivation across the six regions

• 80% & 90% of family farmers have never surveyed their lands

• Most lands granted in these areas are based on oral transactions with very few written agreements.

Cocoa Growing areas are thus considered as one of the main targets for scaling up the LRMC INNOVATIVE TOOLS


SCALING UP PROCESS

• Traditional Authorities• Farmers/Farmers Associations• Usufructs and Family land owners• Women & Youth Groups• Officials of Public Land Sector

Agencies• Ministry of Food and Agriculture• CSO/CBOs• Customary Land Secreatariats


STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION AND SENSITIZATION

Key Issues Discussed• Land Tenure Security Challenges• The identified Tools to promote tenure

security• How the tools were developed• Other options and the advantages of

the tools being introduced• Benefits of the tools• Discussion and negotiation of fees• Roles of he community and individual

subscribers during implementation


VOLUNTARY REGISTRATION OF FARMERS AND THE SURVEY PROCESS

• The Community-Based Survey Tool is more effective when employed on the bases of systematic survey. • Farmers in the new areas were offered the option to voluntarily

register to participate in the process. This is to ensure that they do not perceive compulsion in participation.• Voluntary registration is also a demonstration of willingness to make

financial contribution and stay committed to their obligations. • Current Registration Status - 3,538 Farmers in the Western Region

203 Farmers in the Ashanti Region


GENDER DISAGREGATED DATA - Farmer Registration in Aowin Traditional Area

NO COMMUNITY MALE FEMALE TOTAL

1 KRAMOKROM 166 144 310

2 KANSABO 746 146 892

3 BOINSO 414 123 537

4 ASEMKROM 610 121 731

TOTAL 1,936 534 2,470

PERCENTAGE 78.38 21.62 100


NO COMMUNITY MALE FEMALE TOTAL1 KWAFOKROM 5 1 62 ATOBRAKROM 38 9 473 NYAMAA 5 6 11 TOTAL 48 16 64

PERCENTAGE 75.00 25.00 100


GENDER DISAGREGATED DATA - Farmer Registration in Tepa Traditional Area

CommunityNo. of Parcels Surveyed

Total Acreage

Total Cost (GHȻ)

Average Cost /Acre (GHȻ)

Average Cost /Acre (US$)

Atobrakrom 26 260.6 6,915.00 26.53 8.29

Nyamaa 35 329.9 8,790.00 26.64 8.33

Odikro Nkwanta 3 40.4 1,105.00 27.35 8.55

Bonkro 15 133.7 3,615.00 27.04 8.45

TOTAL/AVE. 79 764.6 20,425.00 26.71 8.35

Exchage Rate: US$1 = GHȻ3.20


Cost Analysis of Survey Data for 79 parcels

CAPACITY BUILDING

• Training of Community Member to help as Para Surveyors• Formation and Training of DRC member in

the Communities as mediators in dispute resolution through ADR• Training of Qualified Surveyors on the Tool

implementation processes• Training of para-legals to use the

Agreement Templates• Under the scaling up training is offered

when the community is ready for the survey.


BUILDING STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

• OASL• LAP• LANDS COMMISSION• CLS• TRADITIONAL COUNCILS• ILC – Funding• LANDSEAL• Alliances with Regional Organisations and Individuals (Koffi Alinon)


LESSONS LEARNT

• The scaling up project is about 5 months old but has made significant improvement in terms of buy-in by communities and therefore the potential of the tools to serve a wider range of rural/poor family farmers in Ghana and beyond. The following lessons are worth noting:

1. There is a growing desire by farming communities to secure their lands and are prepared to commit their labour and resources to achieve same.


LESSONS CONT’D

• 2. Broad stakeholder consultations

3. Building partnerships


LESSONS CONT’D

• 4. Bottom-up approaches enhance legitimacy, local interest, uptake and sustainability• 5. Involvement of wider community leads to further cost reduced and

survey tool more easily scalable. • 6. Designing gender sensitive and targeted sensitization interventions is

central in triggering a move away from cultural practices and beliefs which seek to reinforce gender differentiated land access, security of land rights and other stereotypes. • 7. Potential Sabotage by If people are benefitting from the status quo, • 8. Checks, balances and accountability are critical.


CONCLUSION

• Evidence from LRMC Scaling up Community-Based Land Survey and Documentation tools in the last few months suggests that these tools are very useful as the implementation has re-echoed the desire of farming communities to find solution to challenges of insecurity of land tenure as mirrored by willingness to make financial commitment towards tools that promise to deliver security of tenure.


THANK YOU

Documents

CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABLE LAND USE IN AFRICA SCALING UP COMMUNITY BASED TOOLS TO SECURE LAND RIGHTS; LESSONS FROM THE COCOA BELT IN GHANA MARK KAKRABA-AMPEH