ARnet Reports

Regional Network Meeting on Land Reform, South Asian Region
ALRD, Dhaka, Bangladesh
20-21 October, 1997

A two-day South Asian regional workshop on Land Reform took place at the Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD), Dhaka, Bangladesh. The workshop was attended by 11 participants from UNRISD, Switzerland; FIAN, India; APROSC, Nepal; and the rest represented different NGOs in Bangladesh.

The theme of the workshop evolved around the problems of land reform, land use and how to bring the land reform issue into the development mainstream. The discussion in the workshop focused on the following three areas:

• The problems concerning land reform were discussed in length.

• The need for the Network and its rationality.

• Plan of action and recommendations.

I. LAND REFORM

The participants discussed the question of land reform and other related issues. A wide range of issues and areas were identified for further discussion and programmatic intervention.

The benefits from land reform should lead to :

• social equity and justice, food security, family welfare, etc.

• integrated and balanced ecology, protection of women's right, indigenous culture and population, etc.

A true land reform would lead to communal harmony. Due to the lack of land reform, today's rural world is witnessing violence around the world. In South Asia, less then 10% of the population benefited from land reform and only 1% from agricultural policy.

Several problems relating to land reform were identified:

• Rural landed elements and inefficient bureaucracy control political power, effectively dissuading any effort in land reform,

• Social mobilization from below and the grassroots has been limited in the past,

• land reform is always politically negotiated.

This project looks at issues such as :

• the problem of land reform in countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and India.

• population increase and the corresponding decrease of land size results in less availability of land and increasing food insecurity.

• reduced public expenditure inhibits a government's capacity for land reform; in Southern Africa, for example, arguments are forwarded that white farmers are more efficient than black farmers, or that large farmers export and bring in valuable foreign currencies, but small farmers tend to produce only food crops and consume.

The need for land reform was emphasized as a solution to many problems, some of which are :

• Land Control and Productio n: The control of land by large land owners results in lower production levels. On the contrary, small land owners are more efficient users of land and contribute to increasing production.

• Tenurial Security : Issues of land extension and tenurial security in light of land reclamation in Bangladesh, or regarding the settlement of the poor in forest areas of Nepal, were discussed. Tenurial security in forests must overcome present traditional ideas and should be more innovative, for example, in introducing banana cultivation in forest areas which may preserve bio-mass.

• Land Entitlement : Safer land Entitlement, women's inheritance, indigenous populations right to practice their customary right.

• Common Property Resources (CPR) : In Bangladesh, 20,000 Khas ponds are available. In India, 17% of village property are common resources. In Africa, communal land tenure system predominates. Communal ownership is increasingly threatened with the government's initiative of developing individual ownership rights. Present approach of CPR by government is frequently directed to the preservation of wild life and protecting forest trees, rather than protecting agro-ecology and securing people's livelihood.

The above four areas cover the livelihood issue of the poor and its implications on :

• ecology and environment that constitute the basis of the poor's livelihood;
• social mobilization and networks;
• awareness building;
• land administration; and
• post reform production supporting measures.
• Mobilization: The need for social mobilization aimed at land reform was thought to be important since the state did not sufficiently support the poor's initiatives. In such a situation, popular pressure from below for mobilization is always helpful as it creates room for maneuvering and negotiation. Brazil has largest social movement initiated by the landless and their allies.
• Local knowledge: Local knowledge relating to land management is practical and less expensive. It contains mechanisms for solidarity. This solidarity is eroding because of the market influence and other factors, but local knowledge is historically built on a check and balance mechanism.

However, grassroots participation for land reform has its own limitations. The grassroots people are weak, isolated, lack knowledge on land laws, are controlled by power-structures, and are on occasions affected by internal conflict, small size, etc. In many areas, problems are more acute because of conflicts between new landless people and old landless; in Africa, conflict is especially visible between pastorals and agriculturists.

Local knowledge is vulnerable to outside influence. There remains a major problem of interpreting local knowledge and finding a pattern. These activities are time consuming and make it difficult to draw clearly defined lessons for local communities in other areas.

The challenges for any initiative in land reforms are several, some of which are as follows:

• The advocacy problem persists in drawing the attention of external political support for land reform.

• Advocacy: Advocacy for land reform by using official radio and TV stations is problematic, and the stations may give only lip service. In Bangladesh, the government controls the radio. They may not broadcast land reform issues as they may go against the class interests of the ruling elite. Other possibilities involve using newspapers, local theaters, documentaries, meetings, etc. The advocacy for drawing the attention of external political support may lead to resistance from classes with vested land interests

• Land use: Present models for land use may not conform to local priorities. For example, shrimp farming is evicting people and destroying ecology.

• Social Mobilization: the challenge facing NGOs is how to mobilize and operationalise marginal groups for land reform.

II. NETWORK

The purposes of the present workshop are to:

• have a global idea on the network project by reflecting regional, national and local concerns on land reform;

• reach an agreement on the South Asian regional network;

• discuss the role and function of regional and national coordinators; and

• decide upon a concrete plan of activities.

All major governments and international organizations are committed to poverty alleviation. They are interested in offering micro-credit, awareness building activities, health and nutrition. However, they are not addressing the basic issue of land reform. The workshop participants confirmed that without reforming land, poverty alleviation programmes may not be successful.

The discussion proceeded with caution on two accounts. First, participants adopted a pragmatic approach, instead of a romantic one, keeping in mind the problematic reality of the wider social and political context, and also the problem of gaining access to decision making structures. Secondly, discussion focused on how to highlight, protect and strengthen past gains made from land reform. This cautious approach would then allow NGOs to work with a long term perspective on land reform, with an emphasis on monitoring and evaluating the process of change. It will also enable the construction of a perspective on regional and national resource management for securing small farmers rights.

Participants felt the network was needed for several reasons:

Nepal: In Nepal, land reform is currently a popular political agenda, but successive political parties in government failed to carry-out land reform. The Nationalization Act, 1957, Agricultural Act 1959, Land Reform 1964 that introduces dual ownership. There is a demand to abolish dual ownership, but it has had no effective outcome. The failure of the government to implement land reform has created opportunities for NGOs to work and press forward with the demand for land reform. NGOs are already taking up projects on environmental issues and land settlement which have direct relevance to land reform.

India: Land reforms have never been on the Government of India's agenda. The land reform issue is especially complicated due to its overlapping with land entitlement and caste questions. For example, in Uttar Pradesh there is extreme social injustice for the backward castes and classes, for whom land is a critical issue.

Bangladesh: Although NGOs in Bangladesh started with a concern for landlessness and land reform, they have now deviated their priorities from land reform to micro-credit, institution building, etc.

Furthermore, a regional network will not only bring all NGOs working with land reform and land issues closer, but it will also enable them to exchange their learning experiences and thus enrich each other. This network is required to keep the land reform issue in development mainstream. The Network might also generate a grassroots momentum to solve land problems of which many NGOs are intuitively aware. Many NGOs are doing good work, but due to lack of networks, communication and coordination, they cannot enrich each other's experience. A network will energize these NGOs to emerge as a force capable of taking up the challenge that land reform involves. The problem of forming networks, particularly among India, Nepal and Bangladesh has to do with the present communication facilities. It is much easier to communicate between south and north, but more difficult to communicate between south and south.

III. PLAN OF ACTION

For operationalising the South Asian Network, participants reached a decision to create one regional office with three national coordinating offices in Nepal, India and Bangladesh. This network may extend its offices in Sri Lanka and Pakistan in due course of time. Regional Coordinator: Mr. Mizanour Rahman Chowdhury, ALRD National Coordinator at Nepal: Mr. Bharat Shrestha, Sr. Development Economist, APROSC Uttar Pradesh, India Coordinator: Mr. V.B. Rawat Coordinator, FIAN North India Chapter. Bangladesh Coordinator at Bangladesh: Mr. Md. Kamaluddin, Coordinator, ARBAN.

A Plan of Action was formulated to be completed in phases. Firstly, the network's immediate goal is to work together at all levels so that NGOs and other interested groups and institutions can complement and cooperate in their common pursuit to help the poor in the present globalization process. Secondly, the network will continue to work for the creation of a sustainable base by bringing the issue of land reform into the development mainstream.

Activities in the first phase will include :

• identification of core land reform issues in the region;

• selection of network partners, organizations and countries.

• finalization, sending and analysis of a questionnaire on land issues and reform in South Asia and presentation of its results at IFAD conference in Rome in mid-February, 1997.

Questionnaire Survey: A discussion took place on the draft questionnaire prepared by UNRISD and modifications were made. To complete the study, the following deadlines have been agreed upon:

First week of November - The questionnaire will be translated into Hindi, Nepalese and Bengali for distribution to respective country NGOs by the first week of November. In each country, the questionnaire will be sent to 50 to 150 NGOs. The rationality of selecting a relatively small number of NGOs are related to time constraints. National coordinators will prioritize and select NGOs who are directly working with land issues and mobilizing the poor at grassroots levels. It is also anticipated that the coverage of a large number of NGOs for the questionnaire will make the task of compiling and collating data complicated and the report may not be completed in time.

December 15, 1997 - The questionnaires will be collected and collated by national coordinators and will then be forwarded to the regional coordinator by December 15, 1997. National coordinators will also prepare 3/4 pages of short analytical reports to reflect their country's trends on the issue of land reform.

First Week of January, 1997 - Using this information, the regional coordinator will prepare an analytical paper as well as a brief report on networking activities. The first draft will be forwarded to UNRISD and IFAD by the beginning of January, 1998 for comments and finalization.

February, 1997 - The outputs of the project will be presented at a IFAD conference.

IFAD Conference - To reflect the concerns of NGOs involved in land reform, the participants reached a decision to send the following representatives:

• Regional Coordinator of South Asia

• All national Coordinators

• 2/3 grassroots representatives from each country.

Therefore, a minimum of 10 participants from South Asia will be participating in the IFAD conference.

At the conference, the South Asian team will present:

• a regional overview paper highlighting the contradictions and relative successes of NGOs. The paper would also include the general South Asian pattern on land reform issues.

• prepare documentary films, slides, audio-visual material for visual presentations.

• a progress report on Networking

• present short case studies reflecting the "valuable experiences" of grassroots organizations.

Second Phase Activities

The second phase of activities will take place after the IFAD conference, and will involve the following:

• Regional networking activities will be intensified

• National Coordinators will actively initiate the process of networking

• Research and study will be commissioned. Critical papers will be produced to show the limits and potentials of peasant movements, the problems of rural communication, etc.

• Grassroots organizations will be contacted and activated for developing a plan of actin.

• Country Project proposals will be prepared for action at the national level addressing questions like how a particular country might initiate a project; what resources will be required; how to capture and influence the on-going social dynamics involving land reform at grassroots level, etc..

• Policy papers may be developed for networking

RECOMMENDATIONS:

The workshop made the following recommendations:

1. Advocacy : Radio, TV, newspapers could be used to inform the landless, small farmers, as well as the landlords, legislators, administration etc. about the benefits that may yield from land reform.

2. Interaction : A process of two way interactions from global to local and local to global levels will be started to help the poor and to popularize land reform issues.

3. Global Advocacy : Regional and national offices will feed UNRISD with information and analysis and UNRISD will in turn use this information to pressurize respective governments and international agencies to create favorable and conducive environments for land reform.

4. Experience Sharing : small grassroots and NGO successes and experiences would be shared regarding: · capacity building · influencing people at various intermediary levels; and · advocacy and increasing the bargaining power in favor of the poor.

5. Regional Meeting : If possible, in May 1998, a South Asia regional meeting concerning the network would be convened to decide national action plans and resource requirements needed to make the network more effective and sustainable.

6 . Homepage : A Home page could be constructed on the internet on the network and land reform.

7. Popular Coalition Support : (International Land Coalition - adapted from February 2003) The Popular Coalition will also be approached to finance the installation of e-mail in regional and national offices, and also to finance regional workshops. In addition, The Popular Coalition would be approached to fund national action plans involving the national and grassroots organizations.

Participants Profile

Regional Network Meeting on Land Reform
South Asian Region

01. Mizanour Rahman Chowdhury
Executive Director Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD)

02. Mohammad Faizullah
Chief Executive Gram Kendra

03. Mohammad Kamaluddin
Coordinator ARBAN

04. Shah-I-Mobin Jinnah
Director Community Development Association (CDA)

05. Krishna GHIMIRE
Project Leader UNRISD

06. Abdul Kader
Director SAMATA

07. Khushi Kabir
Coordinator Nijera Kori

08. V.B. Rawat
Coordinator
(North India) FIAN International

09. Bharat Shrestha
Sr. Development Economist APROSC,

10. Shamsul Huda
Director ADAB

11. Manzurul Mannan