Ivorian Elites, Rubber Farming and the Land Question in the Post-Conflict Context of Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract

Land acquisitions are not limited to foreign-owned operations. Recent studies mention the role sometimes played by national elites in major land acquisitions. This issue is of particular importance in Côte d'Ivoire, where the Ivorian elites have become very interested in land in recent years. The involvement of these national elites in plantation agriculture is not new. In the past, access to land by elites for the creation of coffee, cocoa or palm plantations was achieved through the granting of rural land to barons of the regime during the declassification of forests, or through customary procedures in the villages of origin, for those originating from the forest zone. Since the 2000s, the dynamics of land acquisition by the Ivorian elites has taken another form, with widespread recourse to the land market. This dynamic will become more pronounced three years after the military-political crisis. The study is essentially qualitative. The analysis is based on data collected in 2017 from 40 buyers and 31 sellers. This text sheds light on the logics of access to land for the creation of rubber plantations, the pragmatic strategies of land appropriation by elites and the land and social issues induced by these land transfers in the post-conflict period.