Agricultural Land Redistribution and Land Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa Land Redistribution and Land Administration Agricultural Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized DIRECTIONS IN DEVELOPMENT Agriculture and Rural Development Agricultural Land Redistribution Public Disclosure Authorized and Land Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa Byamugisha Case Studies of Recent Reforms Frank F. K. Byamugisha, Editor THE WORLD THE WORLD BANK Public Disclosure Authorized Agricultural Land Redistribution and Land Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa DIRECTIONS IN DEVELOPMENT Agriculture and Rural Development Agricultural Land Redistribution and Land Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa Case Studies of Recent Reforms Frank F. K. Byamugisha, Editor © 2014 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org Some rights reserved 1 2 3 4 17 16 15 14 This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpreta- tions, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. 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Reuse of this photo is permitted under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/legalcode. Cover design: Debra Naylor, Naylor Design Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Agricultural land redistribution and land administration in Sub-Saharan Africa : case studies of recent reforms / edited by Frank F. K. Byamugisha. pages cm. — (Directions in development) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-4648-0188-4 (alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4648-0189-1 1. Land reform—Africa, Sub-Saharan—Case studies. 2. Land tenure—Africa, Sub-Saharan—Case studies. I. Byamugisha, Frank. II. World Bank. III. Series: Directions in development (Washington, D.C.) HD1333.A357A37 2014 333.3’167—dc23 2014008443 Agricultural Land Redistribution and Land Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0188-4 Contents Acknowledgments ix Contributors xi Abbreviations xiii Introduction and Overview of Agricultural Land Redistribution and Land Administration Case Studies 1 Frank F. K. Byamugisha The Problems of Land Ownership Inequality and Poor Land Administration 2 The Need for Agricultural Land Distribution and Land Administration Reforms 3 Case Studies in Redistributive Land Reform in Malawi and South Africa 6 Case Studies in Reforms in Land Administration 8 Notes 13 References 13 Chapter 1 Piloting Community-Based Land Reform in Malawi: Innovations and Emerging Good Practices 17 Hardwick Tchale Background 17 Malawi’s Community-Based Rural Land Development Pilot Project 20 Assessment of Performance against Objectives and International Best Practices 20 Emerging Innovative Aspects, Good Practices, and Lessons 23 Notes 26 References 26 Chapter 2 Land Redistribution in South Africa: A Critical Review 27 Edward Lahiff and Guo Li Origins and Patterns of Land Concentration 27 The Legal and Policy Basis for Land Reform 28 Agricultural Land Redistribution and Land Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa v http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0188-4 vi Contents Land Reform Programs and Their Implementation since 1994 29 Key Policy Issues in South Africa’s Land Reform Program 34 The Way Forward and Recent Institutional and Policy Development 43 Conclusions 47 Notes 50 References 51 Chapter 3 Decentralization of Land Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recent Experiences and Lessons Learned 55 John Bruce Introduction 55 Uganda’s Experience with Decentralization 57 Tanzania’s Experience with Decentralization 62 Ethiopia’s Experience with Decentralization 66 Ghana’s Experience with Decentralization 70 Comparisons and Lessons Learned 74 Notes 80 References 80 Chapter 4 Land Administration Challenges in Postconflict States in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons from Rwanda and Liberia 85 John Bruce Postconflict Challenges to Land Administration 85 Rwanda’s Postconflict Land Administration 87 Liberia’s Postconflict Land Administration 92 Rebuilding: Lessons Learned 99 Notes 101 References 101 Chapter 5 Developing Land Information Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: Experiences and Lessons from Uganda and Ghana 103 Mykhailo Cheremshynskyi and Frank F. K. Byamugisha Introduction 103 The Basic Concept of LIS and the Relevance of New Technology 104 Experience in Developing an LIS 105 Uganda’s Experience in Developing LIS 108 Challenges and Lessons Learned from Ghana and Uganda’s Experiences in Developing LIS 112 Note 115 References 115 Agricultural Land Redistribution and Land Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0188-4 Contents vii Chapter 6 Inventory of Government Land: Lessons from Ghana and Uganda 117 Rexford A. Ahene and Frank F. K. Byamugisha Introduction 117 Objectives of the Case Study 118 Historical Background 118 Institutional Challenges to Inventorying Government Land 119 Defining Government Land 119 Institutional Framework for Government Land Administration 120 The Challenge of Land Valuation and Compensation 121 Acquisition and Disposal of Land by the Government 121 Common Purpose of a Government Land Inventory 122 Conducting a Government Land Inventory in Ghana and Uganda 123 Institutional Weaknesses in Managing the Uganda Inventory 129 Financial Arrangements 130 Lessons Learned 130 Conclusions 133 Notes 133 References 134 Boxes 1.1 Core Design and Implementation Principles of the CBRLDP 23 4.1 Land Administration Postconflict Year 1 86 Figure 2.1 Prices for Land under Redistribution and Restitution Programs versus Market Prices (1994–2004) 36 Map 1.1 Community-Based Rural Land Development Project Area Sites in Malawi 21 Tables 1.1 Households’ Access to Land, by Type of Land, Region, and Poverty Status 18 1.2 Distribution of Landholdings by Region, Poverty Status, and Wealth Quintiles 18 1.3 Chronology of Land Policy Reforms in Malawi 19 Agricultural Land Redistribution and Land Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0188-4 viii Contents 1.4 Summary of CBRLDP’s Impacts (Selected Indicators) 22 2.1 Total Land Transfers under South Africa’s Land Reform Programs, 1994–2011 34 3.1 Key Elements of Land Administration Decentralization Programs 75 Agricultural Land Redistribution and Land Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0188-4 Acknowledgments The bulk of the materials in this book were prepared as a background to a recently published book on land governance in Africa, Securing