Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:34:08.238Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Agrarian reforms in Africa 1980–2016: solution or evolution of the agrarian question?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2019

Víctor O. Martín Martín ,
Luis M. Jerez Darias  and
Carlos S. Martín Fernández
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The first period of agrarian reforms with clear state control over the land (African socialisms) took place between 1945 and 1980, but then a second period started in which market agrarian reforms have prevailed. This work synthesizes agrarian structural reform policies (property systems and land tenure) between 1980 and 2016 in African countries, especially those that had or have bureaucratic bourgeoisie governments (one-party and/or African socialist). The two periods are complementary, rather then being opposed to each other, as state agrarian reforms smoothed the path to market agrarian reforms. Although there is not yet sufficient empirical research on the results of the agrarian reforms implemented during this period, our hypothesis is that they are helping to: increase the unequal structure of property; develop tenure systems and non-capitalist contractual labour relations in new ways, both non-associative (the grabbing of vast tracts of land) and associative (renewed control of customary lands by traditional authorities); and force peasant expropriation and the subsequent increase in the number of landless non-proletarianized peasants. Therefore, the problem of poor agrarian structures in Africa is still unresolved.

Résumé

La première période de réformes agraires avec contrôle clair de l’État sur les terres (socialismes africains) a eu lieu entre 1945 et 1980, mais une seconde période a ensuite débuté au cours de laquelle ont prédominé des réformes agraires par le marché. Ces travaux synthétisent les politiques en matière de réforme des structures agraires (systèmes de propriété et régimes fonciers) entre 1980 et 2016 dans les pays africains, notamment ceux qui ont eu ou ont une bureaucratie bourgeoise (gouvernement unipartite ou socialiste africain). Ces deux périodes sont complémentaires, plutôt qu'opposées, dans la mesure où les réformes agraires d’État ont préparé la voie aux réformes agraires par le marché. Malgré le manque de recherche empirique sur les résultats des réformes agraires mises en place durant cette période, les auteurs émettent l'hypothèse qu'elles contribuent à renforcer la structure inégale de la propriété ; à développer des systèmes fonciers et des relations du travail contractuel non capitalistes selon des modes nouveaux, à la fois non associatifs (l'accaparement de vastes étendues de terres) et associatifs (contrôle renouvelé de terres coutumières par des autorités traditionnelles) ; et l'expropriation forcée de paysans et l'augmentation du nombre de paysans non prolétarisés sans terres qui en résulte. La faiblesse des structures agraires en Afrique reste donc un problème toujours pas résolu.

Type
Agrarian reforms
Information
Africa , Volume 89 , Issue 3 , August 2019 , pp. 586 - 607
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alden Wily, L. (2011a) ‘“The law is to blame”: the vulnerable status of common property rights in sub-Saharan Africa’, Development and Change 42 (3): 733–57.Google Scholar
Alden Wily, L. (2011b) The Tragedy of Public Lands: understanding the fate of the commons under global commercial pressure. Rome: International Land Coalition.Google Scholar
Anyang’ Nyong'o, P. (2013) ‘The land question, land grabbing and agriculture in Africa’, International Journal of African Renaissance Studies 8 (2): 23–31.Google Scholar
Baglioni, E. and Gibbon, P. (2013) ‘Land grabbing, large- and small-scale farming: what can evidence and policy from 20th century Africa contribute to the debate?’, Third World Quarterly 34 (9): 1558–81.Google Scholar
Berry, S. (2002) ‘Debating the land questions in Africa’, Comparative Studies in Society and History 41: 638–68.Google Scholar
Boix, V. (2012) Piratas y pateras: el acaparamiento de tierras en África. Barcelona: Icaria-Antrazyt.Google Scholar
Cahen, M. (1995) Transitions libérales en Afrique lusophone. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Camara, B. (2013) ‘The dynamic of land tenure systems in the Niger Basin, Mali’, Africa 83 (1): 78–99.Google Scholar
Chéneau-Loquay, A. (1995) ‘Monoculture d'exportation et grands domains en Guinée-Bissau: une transition libérale liée au monde Lusophone’ in Cahen, M. (ed.), Transitions libérales en Afrique lusophone. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Collins, A. and Mitchell, M. I. (2018) ‘Revisiting the World Bank's land law reform agenda in Africa: the promise and perils of customary practices’, Journal of Agrarian Change 18 (1): 112–31.Google Scholar
Conceição, P., Levine, S., Lipton, M. and Warren-Rodríguez, A. (2016) ‘Toward a food secure future: ensuring food security for sustainable human development in sub-Saharan Africa’, Food Policy 60: 1–9.Google Scholar
Cotula, L., Vermeulen, S., Leonard, R. and Keeley, J. (2009) Land Grab or Development Opportunity? Agricultural investment and international land deals in Africa. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).Google Scholar
Daniel, S. (2012) ‘Situating private equity capital in the land grab debate’, Journal of Peasant Studies 39 (3–4): 703–29.Google Scholar
Deininger, K., Byerlee, D., Lindsay, J., Norton, A., Selod, H. and Stickler, M. (2011) Rising Global Interest in Farmland: can it yield sustainable and equitable benefits? Washington DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Ece, M. (2008) ‘Report: access to land at the northern periphery of Niokolo-Koba National Park, Senegal’, Dialectical Anthropology 32: 353–82.Google Scholar
El-Ghonemy, M. R. (2003) ‘Land reform development challenges of 1963–2003 continue into the 21st century’, Land Reform 2: 33–42.Google Scholar
Garrido, S. (2011) ‘Las instituciones de riego en la España del Este: una reflexión a la luz de la obra de Elinor Ostrom’, Historia Agraria 53: 13–42.Google Scholar
GRAIN (2012) Exprimir África hasta la última gota: detrás de cada acaparamiento de tierra hay un acaparamiento de agua. Barcelona: GRAIN.Google Scholar
GRAIN-UNAC (2015) Los acaparadores de tierras en el Corredor de Nacala: una nueva era de lucha contra las plantaciones coloniales en el Norte de Mozambique. Barcelona: GRAIN.Google Scholar
Grischow, J. D. (2008) ‘Rural “community”, chiefs and social capital: the case of southern Ghana’, Journal of Agrarian Change 8 (1): 64–93.Google Scholar
GTZ (2009) Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Land in Developing Countries. Bonn: German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Division.Google Scholar
Hall, R. (2012) ‘El nuevo acaparamiento de tierras y las cambiantes dinámicas de la agricultura en el Sur de África’, Revista Española de Estudios Agrosociales y Pesqueros 231: 175–207.Google Scholar
Hall, R., Edelman, M., Borras, S. M., Ben White, I. S. and Wolford, W. (2015) ‘Resistance, acquiescence or incorporation? An introduction to land grabbing and political reactions “from below”’, Journal of Peasant Studies 42 (3–4): 467–88.Google Scholar
Hardin, G. (1968) ‘The tragedy of the commons’, Science 162 (3859): 1243–8.Google Scholar
Hebinck, P., Fay, D. and Kondlo, K. (2011) ‘Land and agrarian reform in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province: caught by continuities’, Journal of Agrarian Change 11 (2): 220–40.Google Scholar
Holden, S. T. and Otsuka, K. (2014) ‘The roles of land tenure reforms and land markets in the context of population growth and land use intensification in Africa’, Food Policy 48: 88–97.Google Scholar
Holden, S. T., Deininger, K. and Ghebru, H. (2011) ‘Tenure insecurity, gender, low-cost land certification and land rental market participation in Ethiopia’, Journal of Development Studies 47 (1): 31–47.Google Scholar
Jerez Darias, L. M. and Martín Martín, V. O. (2018) ‘La cuestión del agua en La Gomera: síntesis de un proceso de expropiación al campesinado (1900–1950)’, Historia Agraria 74: 135–66.Google Scholar
Kandel, M. (2015) ‘Politics from below? Small-, mid- and large-scale land dispossession in Teso, Uganda, and the relevance of scale’, Journal of Peasant Studies 42 (3–4): 635–52.Google Scholar
Kanyongolo, F. E. (2005) ‘Land occupations in Malawi: challenging the neoliberal legal order’ in Moyo, S. and Yeros, P. (eds), Reclaiming the Land: the resurgence of rural movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America. London, New York NY and Cape Town: Zed Books and David Philips.Google Scholar
Lyons, K. and Westoby, P. (2014) ‘Carbon markets and the new “carbon violence”: a Ugandan study’, International Journal of African Renaissance Studies 9 (2): 77–94.Google Scholar
Manji, A. (2001) ‘Land reform in the shadow of the state: the implementation of new land laws in sub-Saharan Africa’, Third World Quarterly 22 (3): 327–42.Google Scholar
Massyn, P. J. (2007) ‘Communal land reform and tourism investment in Namibia's communal areas: a question of unfinished business?’, Development Southern Africa 24 (3): 381–92.Google Scholar
Matavel, N., Dolores, S. and Cabanelas, V. (2011) Os Senhores da Terra: análise preliminar do fenómeno de usurpação de terra em Moçambique. Maputo: Justiça Ambiental and União Nacional de Camponeses (UNAC).Google Scholar
Matondi, P. B. (2011) ‘Agro-investments in Zimbabwe at a time of redistributive land reforms’ in Matondi, P. B., Havnevik, K. and Beyene, A. (eds), Biofuels, Land Outsourcing and Food Security in Africa. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Moyo, S. (2006) ‘La cuestión agraria y el campesinado en África austral’ in Boron, A. A. and Lechini, G. (eds), Política y movimientos sociales en un mundo hegemónico: lecciones desde África, Asia y América Latina. Buenos Aires: Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO) <http://bibliotecavirtual.clacso.org.ar/ar/libros/sursur/politica/PIIICtres.pdf>, accessed 4 May 2016.,+accessed+4+May+2016.>Google Scholar
Moyo, S. (2007a) ‘A terra africana e as questões agrárias: o caso das lutas pela terra no Zimbábue’ in Mançano Fernandes, B., Medeiros Marques, M. I. and Suzuki, J. C. (eds), Geografía Agrária: teoria e poder. Sao Pãulo: Editora Expressáo Popular.Google Scholar
Moyo, S. (2007b) ‘Land in the political economy of African development: alternative strategies for reform’, Africa Development 32 (4): 1–34.Google Scholar
Moyo, S. and Yeros, P. (2005) Reclaiming the Land: the resurgence of rural movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America. London, New York NY and Cape Town: Zed Books and David Philips.Google Scholar
Obeng-Odoom, F. (2015) ‘Understanding land grabs in Africa: insights from Marxist and Georgist political economics’, Review of Black Political Economy 42 (4): 337–54.Google Scholar
OECD (2006) Land Reform Processes in West Africa: a review. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).Google Scholar
ORAM (2006) Relatório Nacional de Moçambique: projecto da SADC de apoio a iniciativas de reformas da terra e agrária. Maputo: Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration (ORAM) <http://www.iese.ac.mz/lib/PPI/IESE-PPI/pastas/governacao/agricultura/artigos_cientificos_imprensa/Projecto_SADC_2006.pdf>, accessed 19 May 2016.,+accessed+19+May+2016.>Google Scholar
Ostrom, E. (1990) Governing the Commons: the evolution of institutions for collective action. New York NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pedersen, R. H. (2016) ‘Access to land reconsidered: the land grab, polycentric governance and Tanzania's new wave land reform’, Geoforum 72: 104–13.Google Scholar
Peters, P. E. (2013a) ‘Land appropriation, surplus people and a battle over visions of agrarian futures in Africa’, Journal of Peasant Studies 40 (3): 537–62.Google Scholar
Peters, P. E. (2013b) ‘Conflicts over land and threats to customary tenure in Africa’, African Affairs 112 (449): 543–62.Google Scholar
Robins, S. and van der Waal, K. (2008) ‘“Model tribes” and iconic conservationists? The Makuleke restitution case in Kruger National Park’, Development and Change 39 (1): 53–72.Google Scholar
Rosset, P. (2013) ‘Re-thinking agrarian reform, land and territory in La Via Campesina’, Journal of Peasant Studies 40 (4): 721–75.Google Scholar
Sikor, T. and Müller, D. (2009) ‘The limits of state-led land reform: an introduction’, World Development 37 (8): 1307–16.Google Scholar
Wolford, W., Borras, S. M. Jr, Hall, R., Scoones, I. and White, B. (2013) ‘Governing global land deals: the role of the state in the rush for land’, Development and Change 44 (2): 189–210.Google Scholar