Adapting to the lack of land rights

The major obstacle to a broadbased campaign for expanded land rights is the relatively weak position of rural people throughout the sub-Saharan area. There are flickering signs of change. The African Union, the region’s leading political association, raised the profile of land issues in 2009 with a declaration on “the need for strong systems of land governance.” But there has been no agreement on what those systems should look like. In some highly centralized countries, such as Ethiopia, the government appears to want weak land rights in order to facilitate land sales to foreign agribusiness companies. In countries with strong democratic traditions, such as Ghana, the power of land is so distributed and shared that making refinements to customary principles in rural areas is difficult. And then there are countries such as Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, where white settlers appropriated land during colonial periods and where efforts at redress have often been stalled, abandoned, or mishandled. In these countries, legacy land issues overshadow the everyday practical reforms that are still needed. In short, despite a growing awareness of the importance of improving “systems of land governance,” land reform remains a low priority in Africa.