Tenure Relations Research Articles

Intra-Family and Socio-Political Dimensions of Land Markets and Land Conflicts: The Case of the Abure, Côte d'Ivoire

This article is a contribution to reflection on the question of land markets in Africa. Based on a case study of Abure society (Côte d'Ivoire), the article emphasizes, first, the relation between the intra-family dimension of land rights and the functioning of the land lease market. Particular attention is paid to intra-family land tensions induced by the land lease market, and their repercussions in the form of inter-community conflict reflecting the ethnic-national basis of the land lease market (with autochthonous Abure lessors and Burkinabe tenants). Second, emphasis is placed on the socio-political dimension of land tenancy relationships. The article is based on a deciphering of the land rights and land tenure practices within Abure family groups, and of a 2001 conflict which set Abure young men against Burkinabe pineapple growers. Beyond the inter-community conflict surrounding land, the article reveals an intergenerational conflict within Abure society itself between social juniors and the elders who manage family land, regarding the delegation of rights to lease out family land and the distribution of land lease (rental) income.

Transaction Costs in Tenancy Relationship, Fragment Level of Land Property Rights and Agricultural Development

This paper analyzes the determinants of fragment level of land property rights in China's agriculture tenancy relationship in light of three dimensions: market, technology and institution. The transaction costs in tenancy relationships are brought by fragment of land property rights which are due to labor division in tenancy relationship, but these costs can be made up by the gains from labor division and specialization. Thus, the tradeoff between the two forces determines the level of fragment. In order to cope with transaction costs, on the one hand, the economic relationship's ability to support higher transaction costs by market size expansion or agrarian technology progress must be strengthened, and on the other hand, contractual arrangements should be used to reduce these costs directly. However, because transaction costs are always positive in real world and keep on increasing during the evolution of agricultural tenancy history due to the persistent fragment of land property rights, as shown in the paper, the agriculture cannot realize economic progress by reducing transaction costs through contractual (here i.e. institutional) adjustment but can by agrarian technology progress and market expansion which are helpful to afford the increasing transaction costs. The above arguments are mainly drawn from China's agricultural tenancy history and can, to a large extent, be deduced to analyze the sources of economic progress to tell that technology and market seem more fundamental than institution.

Gendered Realities: Exploring Property Ownership and Tenancy Relationships in Urban India

Summary Gender is emerging as a central analytical construct in exploring landed property ownership and tenancy relationships in India. This article explores the nature of land tenure and landed property rights in slums in India from a gender perspective. The author raises key issues that need consideration in developing a gendered vision of urban land rights, tenure, and reform by documenting some of the central findings of her field research conducted in slums in Ahmedabad, India, in collaboration with the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). In each case, the author also draws out policy recommendations for redressing discrepancies in women’s ownership of urban land and housing.

Sécurité foncière et gestion de la fertilité des sols : études de cas au Ghana et au Bénin

Within the framework of a larger research programme, Convergence of Sciences (CoS), studies were conducted on soil fertility management strategies in Ghana (Wenchi area) and Benin (Save area). Soil fertility management in both areas includes short-term and longer-term practices. Both regions are characterised by the presence of natives and various groups of migrants that differ in their livelihood strategies. Natives and migrants enter into various tenure relationships. Driven by the increasing monetisation of the economy, such arrangements have evolved from land-for-labour relationships to a more monetary system,. In general natives claim that migrants are negatively affecting soil fertility through their cropping practices, while migrants claim that the nature of the tenure arrangement leads to insecurity and leaves them no choice but to mine the soil. There is, hence, widespread mistrust between natives and migrants, and the prospects for durable tenure arrangements that could maintain soil fertility seem limited. However, recognition of mutual interdependence could form a basis for the build-up of trust. In this study we highlight similarities and differences between the two areas in terms of livelihood strategies of migrants, soil fertility management practices and tenure arrangements. We also indicate the way in which alternative soil fertility management strategies could be effected under different tenure arrangements and describe the negotiation processes that have been started with a view to implementing such alternatives.

Land Tenure as a Variable in Community Based Watershed Projects: Some Lessons from the Sugar Creek Watershed, Wayne and Holmes Counties, Ohio

European settlers of American brought with them perceptions and attitudes toward natural resources, farming, and land tenure that influenced settlement and development of rural communities. These patterns persist in the Sugar Creek Watershed in residents' community involvement, farm succession, and management styles. As such, local social organization and land tenure play important roles in farm management strategies. Watershed planners who understand land tenure relationships may be more effective in catalyzing local participation. Studies of farmers' attitudes toward conservation within a watershed context focus little attention on these social variables. Instead, they examine structural, economic, and biophysical attributes with minimal attention given to social context of the project area. This article proposes that the attributes of land tenure described in this study should be considered in watershed planning that will help in understanding the type and level of local participation and are factors that help explain conservation behavior of farmers.

Emergency food systems: Food access outside the commodity chain

Food systems analysis has developed over the last 15 years to analyze the social, economic, and environmental relations along the food commodity chain: from the land tenure relations and knowledge politics that inscribe traditions of planting to the locations of quality and quantity purchase and consumption. Important advances have been made to shorten the physical and psychological distance between “field and plate” through shortened “food miles” traveled and popular participation in “civic agriculture.” The approach of food systems analysis, and perhaps even more particularly local food systems analysis, can and should help to place more theoretical and practical emphasis on class relations in the food system—what I call the “emergency food system”. While excellent case studies exist that link community food security and emergency food projects, e.g., “building bridges” through CSAs that cooperate with food pantries and soup kitchens, the growing field of “local food systems” may benefit by systematically reviewing such relationships and expanding them to institutionalized purveyors of emergency food support such as WIC and food stamp offices, schools’ subsidized meal programs, and municipal and county level food assistance programs. The recent study, “Improving Food Security for New Jersey Families: Identifying Food Source, Need, and Tools for Connecting” has a scope that includes: (a) a GIS-based Gap Analysis of the emergency food services in the State; (b) an analysis of food providers’ programs, needs, and possibilities for regional cooperation.

The state as landlord in Pakistani Punjab: Peasant struggles on the Okara military farms

Marxist theories of peasant revolt have identified different strata within the peasantry that adopt widely varying roles in rural conflict. However, a complex interplay of class and primordial factors has been identified in studies of Pakistani Punjab, where in a unique revolt beginning in 2000, peasants cultivating not private but public land have engaged in a widespread civil disobedience campaign against the state. This group of tenant farmers is sociologically distinct from the poor peasantry of most Marxist studies, and it is argued here that the revolt can be better understood as a grassroots mobilisation that was an effect of tenure relations combined with notions of community.

1 - The Land Act (1998) and Land Tenure Reform in Uganda

In agrarian societies land is not only the main means for generating a livelihood, it is also a means to accumulate wealth and transfer it between generations. In Uganda, it is a basic source of food, employment, a key agricultural input and a major determinant of a farmer’s access to other productive resources. The na- ture of land tenure, therefore, has profound implications for the development process of nations. As the historical experience of Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa indicates, land tenure can either impede or facilitate positive socio- economic change in a given economy. The Land Act (1998), which aims at reforming land tenure relations in Uganda, is therefore one of the most far- reaching legislation enacted by the National Resistance Movement (NRM) gov- ernment. The new tenure system aims at supporting agricultural development through the functioning of a land market, establishing security of tenure and ensuring sustainable utilisation of land in order to bring about development. This paper discusses three major issues. First, the extent to which the new Land Act (1998) ensures security of tenure to the peasant majority in the country. Second, the issue of its capacity to resolve the long-run contestation between the mailo landowners and tenants (bibanja) holders. And third, the ambiguities and difficulties facing the Act in the process of its implementation must be con- fronted. The article is based on the textual analysis of the various land laws in Uganda historically. The literature brings out several constraints and ambigui- ties regarding the land reform process in Uganda.

Heads or tails? Stakeholder analysis as a tool for conservation area management

Conservation areas are crucial for the maintenance of local communities’ life-support systems. Such areas also, however, constitute potential carbon sinks in regions undergoing significant and complex land-cover and land-use changes. In Africa, most conservation areas are subject to conflicting land-uses due to complex land–tenure relationships, misdirected and ineffective policies and legislation, and human encroachment. Stakeholder analysis in such areas, taking the form of an environmental conflict management model in which stakeholders engage each other in a negotiation process, building mutual trust around areas of common interest and eventually forging mutually beneficial partnerships, can be used to better understand land-use conflicts. In a case study of a forest reserve in Mozambique, it was concluded that stakeholders define themselves with reference to their geographical location, political mandates and socio-cultural and economic interests with respect to the conservation area. The level of mistrust among stakeholders before the start of the project is directly proportional to the amount of time required to build and nurse mutual trust. Such dynamics are shown to be critical in effective management and use of conservation areas.

Peasant Migration and Lease Market: An Investigation into a Village

A much-debated issue in agriculture is the form and nature of tenancy relations. An implicit opinion in the debate is the low turnover in the permanent transaction market for land and any sales that exist are to meet the cash needs of the households. In such a situation the resource adjustments in the market are in the temporary transaction market. But in a village economy which has witnessed a relatively high turnover in the market resource adjustments in the market takes place in both the markets. In such a village economy it would be interesting to see the form and nature of the lease market. In the present paper, an attempt is made to study the lease market in an expanding economy. The source of growth in the economy was the provision of water through irrigation. This has led to in-migration of peasants from other areas wha had bought land as well as leased land. The nature af permanent transaction market for land was analyzed in an earlier paper where it was found that the seller's characteristics influence the price of land while the' buyer's characteristics influence the quantum of land leased. The objective of this paper is to examine whether the characteristics of agents, in which migrant-native character is one important variable, influences the quantum of land leased and the value of rental on land. Here it is seen that migrant-native character of the buyer influences the rental value of rental land but not the quantum of land. In addition the leasing out agent dominantly influences the lease market i.e., the supply side factors influence the lease market.

Young people's strategies for managing tenancy relationships in the private rented sector

Young people increasingly comprise the key demand group for private rented accommodation and are over‐represented in the sector. For many young people this is their first experience of independent living, managing a tenancy and dealing with a landlord. Drawing on in‐depth qualitative interviews, this article focuses upon young people's experiences of living in the private rented sector and explores the range of strategies they adopt to manage relationships with their landlords. Three broad types of strategies adopted by young people are identified: restructuring tenancy relationships, mobility, and maintaining tenancy relationships. This article questions existing assumptions about young people's use of the sector and argues that young people's satisfaction with the internal structure of relationships with landlords, as well as the standard of property and the services provided, are likely to influence their decisions about how to manage tenancy relationships and whether they remain in or leave their current accommodation.

Land Use and Cover Change as an Indicator of Transformation on Recently Redistributed Farms in Limpopo Province, South Africa

This paper assesses the impact of South Africa's land reform program on land use change in rural areas of Limpopo Province. Land use change was examined on five Communal Property Associations using remotely sensed images and quantitative and qualitative survey techniques. Land was abandoned or used less productively after redistribution. The primary reason for the lack of land use change to more productive states was that the land redistribution policy was not sufficiently sensitive to the diversity of rural livelihoods. Other reasons include farm-level general disorganization, lack of capital and labor, gender inequities, and age distribution. Regional political diseconomies also hindered change, namely poor tenure relations and a persistent urban bias.

Colonialism, Colonization and Land Law in Mandate Palestine: The Zor al-Zarqa and Barrat Qisarya Land Disputes in Historical Perspective

This article focuses on land rights, land law, and land administration within a multilayered colonial setting by examining a major land dispute in British-ruled Palestine (1917-1948). Our research reveals that the Mandate legal system extinguished indigenous rights to much land in the Zor al-Zarqa and Barrat Qisarya regions through its use of "colonial law"--the interpretation of Ottoman law by colonial officials, the use of foreign legal concepts, and the transformation of Ottoman law through supplementary legislation. However, the colonial legal system was also the site of local resistance by some Palestinian Arabs attempting to remain on their land in the face of the pressure of the Mandate authorities and Jewish colonization officials. This article sheds light on the dynamics of the Mandate legal system and colonial law in the realm of land tenure relations. It also suggests that the joint efforts of Mandate and Jewish colonization officials to appropriate land and undertake "development" operations in the area were fueled by neither the interests of colonial rule nor those of Jewish colonization alone, but, rather, by the integrated impact of both forces.

When Farmers Use ‘Pieces of Paper’ to Record Their Land Transactions in Francophone Rural Africa: Insights into the Dynamics of Institutional Innovation

In various parts of francophone Africa, farmers use 'pieces of paper' to record transactions such as the 'sale' (with all the inherent ambiguity of the term) of land or delegation of cultivation rights. The aim of these local institutional innovations is to certify that the transaction has taken place. The parties often try to get these contracts validated by a local government authority. Although the procedures may be incomplete and not legal, such 'informal formalisation' of transactions does help to reduce uncertainty and provide greater security within the complex web of tenure relations. New insights can now be gained into local dynamic processes and the role of the state in making tenure rights more secure. (Resume d'auteur)

History in Prehistory: The Oral Traditions of the Rarotongan Land Court Records

The records of the early 20th century Rarotongan land courts are an invaluable source of ethnohistoric information regarding pre-contact land tenure, social and political relations, and historical processes affecting tenure and relations. They are analysed here from the point of view of contextualising the archaeological record of the island. Pre-contact Rarotongan society is shown to have been fluid and flexible, although one notable trend is the gradual aggrandisement of ariki power. This trend continues into the missionary and early colonial periods, where political unity and ariki hegemony become established. European intervention was a single, though defining, episode in a long history. Although it transformed the political order, Rarotonga remained resolutely Rarotongan.

Changing Rural Power Structures Through Land Tenure Reforms: The Current Dismal Role of International Organizations

ABSTRACT Agricultural or rural development, although generally considered to be a process to improve the economic and social conditions of poorer groups in rural areas, signifies different things to different people. The meanings vary in terms of priorities to be considered, the means needed to achieve the set goals, and how the principal actors should co-operate. This paper examines the role of leading international agencies in sponsoring land tenure reforms—a role which had vanished from the development agenda in the 1980s and early 1990s, but which has resurfaced in recent years thanks to actions by national and international civil society organizations and to grassroots mobilizations. Promoting reforms in land tenure institutions and relations is key to reducing rural disparity and improving food security, income and family welfare among marginalized rural population groups. But modifying a rural power structure to promote the interests of the poorer and weaker segments of the rural population is a complex process, and the international organizations included in the analysis have focused their activities on less politically sensitive, subsidiary issues, leaving existing rural power structures and relations largely unimpaired. The paper is based mainly on secondary material, combined with primary information and the author's observations of a number of ongoing land reform initiatives.

Left Liberalism and Race in the Evolution of Colombian Popular National Identity

Though a nation of discordant regionalism and historically weak central institutions, Colombia can paradoxically claim strong currents of popular national identity. It is well known that long centuries of relative economic isolation, coupled with Colombia's largely subsistence internal economy and torturous topography, provided few opportunities to integrate the nation's different regions. Such conditions resulted in fractured regional identities and racial compositions. What few links to the world market Colombia enjoyed before the late nineteenth century came from the mining of gold, with short episodes of tobacco and quinine exportation. Only in the 1880s and later did coffee production finally reorient the nation's economy and introduce new questions of land tenure and social relations. Colombia's fiercely partisan political system evolved during the nineteenth century, therefore, when the country was still overwhelmingly rural, inward-looking, and little more than a collection of semi-autonomous regions. Keith Christie noted that before the 1950s, regionalism was so strong that “Bogotá was essentially just another provincial capital.” As a consequence, the national army in the nineteenth century seldom proved more powerful than the many rebel armies it faced. Indeed, according to the basic Weberian definition of the “state” as the entity that controls a monopoly on the legitimate use of force, and evidenced by the fact that the national government still does not control large portions of the country's territory, Colombia's central state structures continue to be glaringly weak at the end of the twentieth century.

From Tenure to Rights: Conceptualizing the Changing Focus of Housing Law in England

This paper suggests a new way of conceptualizing tenure as a series of discourses that comprise respectively: (a) property law; (b) housing policy; and (c) housing status. Housing research has generally focused on housing policy discourse in a way that obscures legal relationships. In contrast, a focus on property and housing status has greater potential to make explicit the rights and obligations that arise in different situations. The ?bundle of rights? view provides the most acceptable statement of tenure relations in housing. It is the only view that covers both property and housing status and that can also make sense of tendencies towards juridification. The implication for research is to focus on the exact terms of rights, their changing distribution between different parties and their scope for enforcement. If research extends to a review of the origins and continuing rationale of rights, some form of narrative analysis is usually necessary.

Communal tenure in Zimbabwe: divergent models of collective land holding in the Communal Areas

This article discusses the historical construction of land tenure patterns in the Communal Areas of Zimbabwe, previously the Reserves of colonial Rhodesia. In many respects the form of communal tenure found in the Communal Areas today emerged during the early colonial period. While being glossed as ‘traditional’, communal tenure is a contradictory amalgam of local, regional and state initiatives. The discussion outlines the historical development of present tenure relations in the Communal Areas, reviews their multiple sources of legitimacy and suggests that common property regimes in Zimbabwe are not simply the artefact of colonial indirect rule.

The Discourse that Silences: Beneficiaries' Ambivalence Towards Redistributive Land Reform in the Philippines

This article argues that the persistence of non‐capitalist dimensions within land relations in the Philippines is basic to rural livelihood strategies, and has been a major but widely‐neglected factor in the failure of land reform programmes. Addressing the issue of non‐capitalist relationships brings into focus the indigenous or ‘customary’ land tenure relationships that exist in lowland land tenure arrangements, with the result that the conventional dichotomy between lowland and upland ‘cultural minority’ land relations becomes spurious. The article offers some suggestions as to why, for the major part of this century, the indigenous norms of lowlanders have been overlooked, with a discussion which links up to issues of national identity and nation building.