ARnet Regional Report Central and West Africa 1998

General Outline on Land Reform and Tenurial Security in Central and West Africa
Regional Node: Réseau Agricultures Paysannes & Modernisation en Afrique (APM Afrique)
Rome, February 1998

Paper Prepared by: Jeanot MINLA MFOU'OU

INTRODUCTION

In the framework of the Population Coalition hunger and poverty, the and have initiate a project Knowledge Network on Civil Society Initiatives in Land Reform and Tenurial Security.

The structure suggested for the conduct of the project was to partition Africa in three regions:

• North Africa
• East and South Africa
• Central and West Africa

It was also decided that in each region, the project would be carried and co-ordinated by an organisation, association.

The APM (Network) Africa, via its Executive Secretary was selected as Regional Co-ordinator at the project in Central and West Africa. For the first phase of the project, three countries were chosen : Cameron, Senegal and Ghana.

After the September 1997 meeting in Rome, a regional workshop for the launching of the project was organised in Yaoundè by the general co-ordinator in the presence of Mr. KRISHNA CHIMIRE of the UNRISD in Geneva. It is following that workshop that the research for identifying the experiences was implemented on the field by the National Co-ordinator in the three countries.

While carrying out that work of identifying the field experiences, there were many constraints related among which two were very important :

• on the one hand, the time allocated for the task was very short,
• on the other hand, the financial means provided for the work were not even given, of course that did not allow us to respect the agenda set up from the beginning

However, given that the project was sponsored by AMP/AFRICA Network, who fortunately was helped by the AMP/National Network in the target countries, owing to very renowned persons who assured the National Co-ordination in those countries, given the interest, the importance of the theme, plus the commitment and the sense of sacrifice of many others, the work is being done.

This general report is an attempt to present :

• the region covered and mainly, the three (3) countries in which the experiences were identified, while replacing the theme in a regional context.
• to show the results of the work done in each country, before to draw up the prospects that is the work follow-up.

I. LAND REFORM AND TENURIAL IN CENTRAL AND WEST AFRICA

Central and West Africa constitute a Sub-Saharan overall entity politically, geographically and economically which is not easy to define with precision. That is owing to the many criteria used. For instance for some people, Rwanda and Burundi are part of Central Africa while people talk more and more of the great lakes region. In that region we mostly find countries of the Sahel and of the forest with many varieties within a country or between countries.

Land Reform

Land Reform in that region is not applied in the redistribution of the colonised land as was and is still the case in the South Africa region (Zimbabwe South Africa) and in Latin America.

Although Central and West Africa were not exempt from colonisation, it generally did not touch the land that remained and is still the property of those who have been developing it for agriculture. One has however noticed (up to now) by on some spots, some changes on the lands in relation with agriculture

Among others, we have :

• the large hydro-agricultural developments, made of big projects implemented by the state for the production of rice. That was the case in the Senegal valley and in the Cameroon Far North zone, not far from the "bec de canard" close to the Chad boundary. Very large pieces of land were managed and distributed for agriculture.
• the common practice of creating new villages or "Pioneer Villages" as it was called in Cameroon. It was to counter the threat of overpopulation in some villages, to identify the non occupied lands and move the surplus of population from a village, to accommodate them and distribute some land to them.
• the installation of agro industrial companies that has led to the recuperation of small peasants land who were by so doing deprived of their land.

The question is to know whether every situation could therefore be classified as land reform.

TENURIAL SECURITY

This is a very important issue, given the most important role of land in the life of Central and West African populations. For the majority of the people of that region life is not seen without land. One would therefore have expected a strong social and public rally about land considering the many recurrent problems related to it. Unfortunately, one notices that there are rather isolated initiatives. Every land related problem is politicised, and most people fear to talk about it for fear or revenge from traditional political and administrative and even religious authorities. Tenurial problems appear under many shapes. One can cite for the most common.

The expropriation for public utility or not, these pose all the problems on land rights.

The various legislation on tenure

• modern laws
• customs related laws and their application is not always easy and is not in the interests of the weakest, notably the small peasants :
• the sometimes bloody various and repeated conflicts between farmers and cattle breeders
• the conflicts between those protecting the environment via protected spaces, reserves and the likes, and the needs for survival of the local or native populations.
• the frequent conflicts between development companies and the local populations.
• the difficult access to land titles due to long and bureaucratic procedures.
• the ever growing modernisation of African cities which constitute a threat for the populations that live on those areas once considered as rural zones or villages.

Each of the three selected countries (Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana) in the framework of the regional workshop has carried the task of identifying the experiences. We will present in the following lines, the synthesis of the first results.

II. THE FIRST RESULTS OF THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE EXPERIENCES BY COUNTRY

1. In Cameroon

The work was done by associations that work with the peasants and by individuals, mostly peasants unions, NGOs and churches.

Methods of work

In order to identify the experiences, there was :

• the explanation of the work to do by letter and mostly by direct contacts
• field visits
• handing of the sketches or postal sending
• direct interviews by the National Co-ordinator.

Some Results

Out of 50 sketches sent, 28 answers were sent to the National Co-ordinator, only 20 cases were accepted.

• Consequences of lands parcelling
• The phenomenon of corruption in the settling of land disputes in the rural areas
• The consequences of urbanisation on the life of the populations and the expropriation practice for public utility
• The sale of land by rich or poor peasants
• The expropriation of the populations from their land for the construction of the international airport
• The sharing of land between members of the same family
• The development of a site to guarantee one's right on it
• The conflicts between the native and the non native who settled after having purchased some land
• The pygmies and their rights on the land in the South of Cameroon
• The conflict between the ECOFAC Project and the people in villages around the Dja reserve.

2. Senegal

Fifty questionnaires or sketches for identification of the experiences were sent into five (5) regions in Senegal. Three regions have answered through twenty (20) answers sent to the National Co-ordinator, the twenty answers are reports of the experiences of the peasants.

First Results

At the time we were writing this report the National Co-ordinator has sent us a synthesis showing the strategies used by the peasants to secure their land.

In the river Senegal valley.

The following strategies were developed

• the producers are grouped in federations of producers association and ask for a big surface.
• There is a system of parcel of farm lending for a farmer period/season.

In the centre zone

• With the threat of expropriation from non developed site.
• The peasants (producers) build fences around the farm and grow fruit trees there
• the peasants call upon religious chiefs for their protection as a guarantee for their lands. They give part of the produce in return to the chiefs

Foulodou

• The local communities (rural council) demand to be associated to the land management, and to be transferred to the large hydro agricultural areas. That will enable the council to ensure that the small scale native producers benefit from the most coveted land by the wealthy people who later use them as farm workers.