10 Ways Africa Can Revolutionize Agriculture
Applying these steps could dramatically reduce poverty.
1 / 12
Growing Africa's Agriculture - The vast stretches of usable, uncultivated land and mineral wealth throughout Africa have been championed as a means of combating the continent’s steep poverty rate. So what’s the holdup? Land governance, according to a recent World Bank report. Keep reading to learn possible ways to renovate land reform in Africa, and in doing so, defeat poverty and food insecurity. —Patrice Peck(Photo: REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi)
2 / 12
The Key to Economic Prosperity - Legal disputes and confusion around land ownership have attributed to a lacking agricultural industry and richer countries’ leasing or buying out land, aka land grabbing. "Improving land governance is vital for achieving rapid economic growth and translating it into significantly less poverty and more opportunity for Africans, including women who make up 70 percent of Africa's farmers, yet are locked out of land ownership due to customary laws,” said the World Bank vice president for Africa. (Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
3 / 12
Banding Together Against Land Grabs - Many African farmers use communal land, territory historically owned by a community rather than an individual. Because these age-old areas are not considered private property, but instead state property, these territories are vulnerable to land grabs. To protect farmer’s rights to use communal lands, the report advises that farmers organize and authenticate communal groups, as well as demarcate boundaries and register communal rights.(Photo: REUTERS/Joe Penney)
4 / 12
Empowering the Poor and Vulnerable - For impoverished individuals, access to rural land is typically based on custom and community tradition. Also marginalized, women might be permitted to use land to grow crops to feed her family, but prohibited from selling them for profit. Possible reforms to combat socioeconomic disparity in land access include removing restrictions on land rental markets, standardizing rights of squatters on urban public land and advocating gender equity with advantageous laws and documented rights.(Photo: REUTERS/Hudson Apunyo /Landov)
5 / 12
Refurbishing Individual Land Rights - While traditional approaches to land registration might take decades, modern nationwide programs can now be completed within 5-10 years, says the World Bank. Improving ownership security over individual lands (owned by an individual, as opposed to a community) would require implementing such programs, which employ systematic designations, detailed surveys and low-cost technologies.(Photo: Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
ADVERTISEMENT
6 / 12
Increasing Efficiency Through Modern Tools - Inefficient land administration means that it takes twice as long and costs twice as much to transfer land compared to industrialized countries, according to the World Bank. Decentralizing any presently established systems to empower local communities and traditional authorities could possibly remove any hindrances. Developing land information in computer systems and modernizing surveying and mapping infrastructure might also provide more efficiency and transparency to land administration services.(Photo: REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko)
7 / 12
Reconciling Land Feuds for Stability - Ethically managing the process of acquiring land for public interest would help to resolve and thwart the many disputes on rights that often occur. The creation of competent institutions and specialized tribunals, the reinforcement of judicial institutions and the preparation of judges are one of the several ways to improve the environment for governance. (Photo: REUTTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko)
8 / 12
Developing an Aptitude to Govern - To develop a nation’s ability and capacity to administer and manage land resources, the World Bank suggests that local officials undertake institutional and policy reforms and provide training to administrators.(Photo: REUTERS/Antony Njuguna)
9 / 12
Collaborating on Taxation - Taxation plays a large role in land administration, in terms of managing information on land owners’ rights and protections. Cooperation on all levels of local governments would support property tax assessment and land tax policies.(Photo: REUTERS/Ken Oloo/International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies/Handout)
10 / 12
Balancing Individual Rights and Public Interests - Land use planning is important to ensure that land is used in the best interests of society, according to the report. Anchoring land use planning in a national land policy, similar to that of Ghana and Tanzania, would help to “strike a balance between protecting private property rights and the public interest while also promoting sustainable development.”(Photo: REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko)
ADVERTISEMENT
11 / 12
Making Good Use of State-Owned Land - A number of countries inherited legal ownership of unused land upon gaining independence. Yet, much of that land remains undeveloped or poorly used. Two possibilities for scaling up land owned by the government include allocating unused land to the poor or investors and identifying and establishing the occupancy status of state land.(Photo: REUTERS/Grant Neuenburg