Ensuring Equitable Distribution Of Land In Ghana: Spirituality Or Policy? A Case Study From The Forest-Savanna Agroecological Zone Of Ghana

Abstract

This article explores the pent-up question of equitable distribution of land in Ghana using the Forest-Savanna Agroecological Zone as a case study. It focuses on the dichotomy of policy versus indigenous spirituality in contemporary distribution of land in Ghana. After independence several attempts have been made to restructure land title holding in Ghana by way of land registration. The effectiveness of these attempts is also examined. The paper concludes that Ghana needs pragmatic steps (policies) to confront the challenges of land distribution. And in taking these pragmatic policies, the religio-cultural underpinnings (the people`s worldview) of land issues in Ghana should be factored into the policy that will result. Anything short of this will make the implementation of any land policy in Ghana ineffective.

An intergenerational transmission of sustainability? Ancestral habitus and food production in a traditional agro-ecosystem of the Upper Guinea Forest, West Africa

“…In the study of West African societies it is well established that social institutions are central to a multiplicity of factors in food production systems, including labour availability, land tenure, and natural resource management decision making Leach, 1996, 2005;Leach, 1994;Richards, 1985Richards, , 1986Richards, , 1993. Not only are social institutions inseparable from food production practice, but for many traditional peoples in Africa and elsewhere, social institutions are also inalienable from the ritual and religious (Appiah-Opoku and Hyma, 1999;Awuah-Nyamekye and Sarfo-Mensah, 2011;Berry, 1989;Bloch, 2008;Byers et al, 2001;McCaskey, 1995;Mowo et al, 2013;Parrinder, 1961;Sasaoka and Laumonier, 2012;Ubink and Quan, 2008;von Heland and Folke, 2013;Wadley and Colfer, 2004). Many Sub-Saharan African societies -including the Loma -have traditionally believed that their ancestors have mystical powers and a functional role in the world of living kinsmen.…”