Indigenes’ exclusion from neo-customary land: A perspective from changes in usufruct rights in Pramso, peri-urban Kumasi – Ghana

Sumbo, Dennis Kamaanaa

doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106268

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 14 publications

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“…As a result, the usufructs' normative entitlement to customary land and the devolution of land from aging fathers to their sons are fast disappearing. In addition, the commoditisation and individualization of customary land also raise concerns about the fiduciary roles of Chiefs and Tendaamba (Mwingyine, 2019;Sumbo, 2022). Hence, these changing land relations affect smallholders' productivity (Kuusaana, 2016) and how they can protect and benefit from economic trees.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Customary land governance dynamics and its implications for shea tenure and ecology in selected peri-urban communities in Ghana

Kuusaana

2022

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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IntroductionThe shea ecosystem provides critical ecosystem services. However, rapid peri-urbanization threatens the governance of peri-land and shea tree resources and poses multiple risks to urban and peri-urban households. Yet, studies on tree tenure in Ghana have focused on cocoa though shea possesses similar economic prospects. This study examines the customary land tenure systems in the Wa Municipality and their impacts on land and shea through a governance lens.MethodsThis study was purely qualitative and relied on data from focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with 64 purposely selected participants. To enable the retelling of the participants' stories, the data was first coded, thematised, and analyzed using NVivo 10 software.ResultsThe results show that land and shea rights have been decoupled in peri-urban areas, and the grant of land for farming or housing is sequestered from the right to access and use shea trees without authorization. In view of this, urban usufructs cut shea trees to communicate their opposition to land transactions. Due to the fluidity of customary tenure, some family heads are redefining usufruct entitlements to land and counterclaiming the land and shea trees. In addition, the lack of incentives for smallholders to plant and manage shea trees inhibits shea governance and sustainability.DiscussionThis is exacerbated by the widespread tenure insecurity over land and investments in shea trees. Under family land jurisdictions, family heads must involve usufructs in all the processes of land transactions and assign them a clear mandate and entitlements in customary land administration to facilitate efficient land and shea governance.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Customary land governance dynamics and its implications for shea tenure and ecology in selected peri-urban communities in Ghana

Kuusaana

2022

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Emergent neo-customary land tenure and non-indigene smallholders’ access to farmlands in peri-urban Ghana

Abdulai

2024

Discov Sustain

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Land dispossession within the emerging neo-customary land tenure system is not a novel phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, the landholding systems across SSA are as diverse as the societies themselves. In Ghana, research on peri-urban land dispossession primarily focuses on centralized areas and indigene landholders, neglecting acephalous and non-indigene smallholders. This gap in knowledge hinders our understanding of how neo-customary land tenure affects land access for non-indigenous smallholder farmers. This paper examines how non-indigene smallholders navigate neo-customary land tenure in peri-urban Wa, Ghana. The study employed a qualitative research design, conducting in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with 56 participants. The findings reveal that large-scale appropriation, covert land sales, and speculation are the primary drivers of land dispossession. The previously unconditional access to land for non-indigene smallholders, based on perpetual usufructuary interest, has also become temporary and conditional on their acceptance of roles as caretaker farmers or sharecroppers. The resulting dispossession and its consequences, such as inadequate subsistence food production, have led to socially undesirable outcomes. The study recommends that the Municipal Assembly and civil society organizations utilize Ghana's Land Act (Act 1036) to advocate for and safeguard the usufructuary interest of non-indigene individuals in land tenure.

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‘Peri-urbanisation and loss of arable land’: Indigenes’ farmland access challenges and adaptation strategies in Kumasi and Wa, Ghana

2023

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Indigenes’ exclusion from neo-customary land: A perspective from changes in usufruct rights in Pramso, peri-urban Kumasi – Ghana

Cited by 6 publications

References 14 publications

Customary land governance dynamics and its implications for shea tenure and ecology in selected peri-urban communities in Ghana

Customary land governance dynamics and its implications for shea tenure and ecology in selected peri-urban communities in Ghana

Emergent neo-customary land tenure and non-indigene smallholders’ access to farmlands in peri-urban Ghana

‘Peri-urbanisation and loss of arable land’: Indigenes’ farmland access challenges and adaptation strategies in Kumasi and Wa, Ghana

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