Land tenure dynamics in East Africa : changing practices and rights to land

Abstract

Agriculture remains the main source of livelihood for most rural people in East Africa. Farming is dominated by smallholders, of whom the majority are women. Their tenure and access to land is important for reducing rural poverty, enhancing food security and stimulating agricultural development. Secure tenure represents one of the most critical challenges to the development of sustainable agriculture in the region. In an effort to understand the land question and its variation across the region, this book analyses the land reforms, their context and dynamics. The book presents recent studies on the dynamics of land tenure and land tenure reforms in East Africa with a focus on Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. By selecting these five countries, the book is able to show the changing practices and variations in the land tenure dynamics and explain how they relate to historical and more contemporary issues. The chapters are written by researchers, policy makers and activists with a diverse background and experience/expertise in relation to the land question. Their contributions offer a multiperspective basis for critical rethinking and reflection on the future of the land question in East Africa.

The book is based on presentations at two workshops: one in Tanzania in May 2013 (in cooperation with REPOA, Policy Research for Development, Dar es Salaam, and Sokoine University of Agriculture) and the other in Kampala, Uganda, in October of the same year.CONTENTS: Preface / Kjell Havnevik. -- Acknowledgement. -- 1. Introduction / Opira Otto. -- 2. When customary land tenure meets land markets : Sustainability of customary land tenure in Tanzania / Aida C. Isinika, Yefred Myenzi and Elibariki Msuya. -- 3. Securing peasants’ land rights through dispossession of the landed rich in Uganda / Fredrick Kisekka-Ntale. -- 4. Land matters in South Sudan / Ole Frahm. -- 5. Effects of large-scale land acquisitions by local elites on small-holder farmers’ access in Tanzania / Hosea Mpogol. -- 6. From male to joint land ownership: The effect on women’s possibilities of using land titles as collateral in Rwanda / Jeannette Bayisenge. -- 7. The benefits for women from land commodification – a critical reflection / Mary Ssonko Nabacwa. -- 8. Is agriculture a generational problem?: The dynamics of youth engagement in agriculture in northern Uganda / David Ross Olanya. -- 9. Legal pluralism and urban poverty in peri-urban Kisumu, Kenya / Leah Onyango. -- 10. Crossroads at the Rural–Urban Interface : The Dilemma of Tenure Types and Land Use Controls in Housing provision and Urban Development in Kenyan Cities / Jack Abuya. -- 11. Our Inheritance: Impacts of Land Distribution on Geita Communities in Tanzania / Godfrey T. Walalaze. -- 12. Land use consolidation and water use in Rwanda: Qualitative reflections on environmental sustainability and inclusion / by Theophile Niyonzima, Birasa Nyamulinda, Claude Bizimana and Herman Musahara. -- Index.