International Conference on Agrarian Reform and

Rural Development (ICARRD)

Porto Alegre, Brazil • 7-10 March 2006

LAND ACCESS AND SECURITY OF TENURE IN GHANA:

SOME CONSIDERATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

AND

THE OUTCOME REPORT OF THE THEMATIC DIALOGUE

HELD ON 24 JANUARY 2006
ACCRA, GHANA

A PROCESS AND A CONTRIBUTION IN PREPARATION FOR ICARRD

“NEW CHALLENGES AND OPTIONS FOR REVITALIZING RURAL COMMUNITIES”

SUBMITTED BY BY OSMAN ALHASSAN , RESEARCH FELLOW, INSTITUTE OF AFRICAN STUDIES

UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON

FEBRUARY, 2006
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Access to land and security of tenure are key considerations in Ghana as the majority of its
population are engaged as food and cash crop farmers. According to Population and Housing
Census in 2000, 56.2% of the population is rural; the majority of whom solely depend on
primary land activities for their sustenance.

The country’s development aspirations over the past years have been met significantly, and
continue to be met considerably through agriculture. Ghana’s long-term vision is to become a
middle-income country by the turn of year 2020 with significant improvements in living
standards.

As an agriculture-driven economy, any expected increases in human welfare must first and
foremost see to the improvement of agricultural production and productivity. This is a daunting
task as population continues to increase and serious problems confront land accessibility and
security of tenure.

The impacts of insecure access to land have particularly been very devastating for vulnerable
groups such as women, migrants, and landless youth. There are concerns that as these trends
persist, these and other groups would find their land rights marginalised and this will deepen
their poverty.

Three legal land regimes are recognised in Ghana comprising the customary, statutory, and
common practice. However, around 80% of lands in Ghana are in the custody of customary
authorities, hence they play the most significant influence in land ownership and use
arrangements.

Customary land tenure is characterised by its largely unwritten nature, and usually managed by a
traditional authority such as a chief or a family head. The majority of Ghanaians still adhere to
decentralised customary land tenure systems.

However, these customary conventions are continuously being redefined due to urban expansion,
commercialisation of land; and land alienation by customary authorities. All of these results in
competing demands for land and impoverishment of poorer groups whose land needs cannot be
met.

While the state exercises powers to compulsorily acquire lands for public interest, some of these
acquisitions have not been demonstrably public. Beneficiaries of state land allocations are
mainly privileged people in society with resultant inequitable distribution of public land.

Statutory land arrangements have influenced significantly tenure security in Ghana. Deeds and
titling registration enable land rights registration on freehold or leasehold. However, only modest
gains have been made due to the weak implementation of the process. Land registration has not
ensured easy access to land and enhance security of land rights.

2
A Land Administration Programme (LAP) is currently underway to improve access to land, and
ensure certainty of land rights. The objectives of the programme include strengthening
customary land secretariats, strengthening public and private sector land administration and
management institutions, and pilot systematic land titling and registration.

In Ghana, women’s immense role in agriculture has been acknowledged. But the majority of
these women have only secondary or derived rights; the right to own or use land results from
women’s relationship with men (e.g. as wives).

Traditional mechanisms put in place to ensure transparency and social equity are no longer
adhered to even if they are purported to still be in place. Some traditional authorities are enacting
new laws to reinforce their land rights and enable them appropriate it for their own gain. They
justify their actions by claiming that these customary rules are outdated and need to be adjusted
to suit modern circumstances.

State institutions charged with land management are understaffed, lack basic logistics to work
with, and lack transparency and accountability to its wider constituents. They have been
ineffective and have tended to exacerbate the situation.

In view if the preceding discussions, participants at the thematic workshop proposed some
recommendations to make land access easier and enhance tenure security in Ghana. These
include the following:

(i) Create awareness on contemporary developments in the administration of land for the benefit
of ordinary rural farmers.

(ii) To ensure effective execution of the LAP’s objectives, LAP should facilitate and engage civil
society in capacity building depending on its competence.

(iii) There are weak collaborations and networks among NGOs, CSOs, and producer
organisations in Ghana. An environment for learning should be created to enable the sharing
of experiences which will improve information, enhance decision making, and increase
capacities of various organisations.

(iv) Through effective networking with farmer-based organisations such as APFOG which has
wide membership across the country and can use this network to channel vital information on
modalities for achieving better land and natural resource management in Ghana.

(v) The LAP should facilitate the implementation of the new land administration reforms through
national and local fora on land and broader natural resource management. Partnerships from
ICARRD would go a long way to supporting the redefinition of policies associated with land
administration in Ghana. This is particularly important coming at the time a land
administration programme is on course, and seeking closer collaboration and partnership with
CSOs, NGOs, and traditional authorities to mention a few, would contribute immensely
towards attaining the social priority concerns identified by the LAP.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS 4
ACRONYMS 5
PART I. CASE STUDY 6
1.0 Initial diagnostic of the problem 6
1.1 Introduction 6
1.2 Methods used in the preparation of this report 7
1.3 General framework of land access and tenure security in Ghana 8
1.31 Customary land tenure and access to land 8
1.32 Compulsory acquisition and access to land 10
2.0 Concrete modality of the intervention carried out: measures and mechanisms 11
2.1 Statutory land tenure arrangements and security of tenure 11
2.2 Land registration and security of tenure 11
2.3 The land administration programme 12
2.4 Institutions involved in improving land access and enhancing land rights 13
2.5 Performance of institutions in land management 14
2.6 Traditional practices for registering customary lands 14
PART TWO: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE THEMATIC DIALOGUE 16
3.0 Land access and tenure security: customary practices and interventions 16
4.0 Lessons learned: experiences from land rights interventions (land access and secure 20
tenure)
PART THREE: POSSIBILITIES FOR FUTURE COOPERATION 21
5.0 Suggestions for improvements in land access and tenure security 21
5.1 The way forward for enhanced land access and tenure security 21
5.2 Policy/programme recommendations 22
6. 0 Proposal from Ghana to ICARRD on ways of improving land access 24
and tenure security in Ghana
6.1 Objectives and related activities 24
6.2 Key actors 25
6.3 Methods 25
7.0 Conclusion 25
ANNEXES 27
Annex 1: Workshop Program 27
Annex 2: Group Thematic Discussions 28
Annex 3: Workshop Participants 30

REFERENCES 32

4
ACRONYMS

APFOG - Apex Farmers’ Organisation of Ghana

CBOs - Community Based Organisations
CIKOD - Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development
CSOs - Civil Society Organisations
DT&CP - Department of Town and Country Planning
FAO - Food and Agricultural Organisation
GoG - Government of Ghana
GSS - Ghana Statistical Service
ICARRD - International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development
IIED - International Institute for Environment and Development
LAP - Land Administration Program
LC - Lands Commission

LTR - Land Title Registration

LVB - Lands Valuation Board

NGOs - Non-Governmental Organisations

NLP - National Land Policy
OASL - Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands
PNDCL - Provisional National Defence Council Law
RAVI - Rights and Voice Initiative
SD - Survey Department

5
PART I. CASE STUDY

1.0 Initial diagnostic of the problem

1.1 Introduction

Access to land and security of tenure are key considerations if development is to be

contextualised in developing countries. Ghana is no exception to this observation as the majority
of its population are engaged as food and cash crop farmers. According to the 2000 Population
and Housing Census, 56.2% of the population is rural; the majority of whom solely depend on
primary land activities for their sustenance (GSS, 2002).

The country has a strong agricultural base and its development aspirations over the past years
have been met significantly and continue to be met considerably through agriculture. Indeed, in
the context of Ghana’s development, access to land and other natural resources are key to basic
livelihoods and often a question of fundamental human rights.

Ghana’s long-term vision is to become a middle-income country by the turn of year 2020 with
significant improvements in living standards by this target period. As an agriculture-driven
economy, any expected increases in human welfare must first and foremost see to the
improvement of agricultural production and productivity. This is envisioned for example in the
GPRS through “modernisation of agriculture and agro-based industries,” and includes
commodity export activities. This is not an easy task granted that population continues to
increase and food production would have to be increased to feed the growing population.

Increasing agricultural production is a daunting task in view of the crucial concerns surrounding
land accessibility, and security of ownership and use arrangements. Easy access to land is
assuming wider dimensions with the rapid urbanization the country is currently experiencing1.
Cities and towns in Ghana have been attracting considerable numbers of people who continue to
migrate to these settlements. Housing conditions for the majority of residents in the country’s big
cities are quite deplorable and the demand for housing is eating up agricultural land. At the same
time unplanned development, land scarcity, growing tenure insecurity, and land use conflicts are
increasingly threatening social and political stability. Other problems such as the evolving and
unclear customary tenancy systems, indeterminate boundaries of customary-held lands, the
general indiscipline in the land markets, lack of accountability, transparency in land acquisitions,
and a weak land administration system.

Though governments have instituted a substantial body of land legislation and policies, these
instruments have not achieved the desired goal. Indeed, improving land administration through
equity and transparency in land governance has been the subject of many public discussions and
policy interventions (as in the National Land Policy and the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy
Paper). More coordinated efforts are needed to find a workable solution to the land problem and
boost socio-economic development in the country.

1
According to a recent research (Songsore, 2003) four out of every ten persons in the country live in urban areas. If
current trends continue, more than half of all Ghanaians will live in urban areas by the year 2020.

6
The impacts of insecure access to land has particularly been very devastating for vulnerable
groups such as women, migrants, and landless youth. These groups are often ill-informed of their
rights or options to acquire land with assured security. They are also not included in mainstream
decision-making process, and denied the benefits of other opportunities available for making
critical choices affecting their lives.

Within the ICARRD initiative, the FAO is promoting greater understanding, learning and
constructive dialogue to address agrarian reform, sustainable rural development, and rural
poverty issues through the creation of a lasting platform of monitoring and evaluation of best
policies and practices on agrarian reform and rural development. This platform will create an
opportunity for the international community, governments, producer organizations, and civil
society groups to share experiences and plan concrete actions to enhance international
cooperation that will promote more equitable, transparent and accountable access to land and
natural resources.

The exercise is to provide an avenue for sharing experiences in improving access, use and
management of natural resources. In line with these objectives, the main themes to be addressed
by ICARRD include the following:

(i) Policies and practices for securing and improving access to land by the poor and
promoting agrarian reform to alleviate poverty and hunger.
(ii) Building capacity to improve access to land, water agricultural inputs and agrarian
services to promote sustainable natural resources management and rural development.
(iii)New opportunities to strengthen rural producers and communities - Facilitating people’s
choices in rural development, and
(iv) Agrarian reform, social justice and sustainable development

1.2 Methods used in the preparation of this report

This study proceeded in two phases; (i) a stocktaking phase, and (ii) a thematic workshop. The
stocktaking exercise was carried out with prepared interview schedules which guided in-depth
interviews with identified stakeholders such as farmers, traditional authorities and community
opinion leaders, officials from LAP and other land agencies, district authorities, government
agencies, and field workers in agriculture, forestry, and community development. Group
discussions were also held with some farmer-based organisations, women farmers, and
traditional authorities. In addition, relevant secondary data was reviewed to situate the historical,
cultural, and development context within which land access and tenure security were analysed.
In this regard, both the state and customary land tenure regimes are discussed to enhance
understanding of the pertinent issues surrounding land as a basic resource and its impacts on
rural livelihoods and sustainable natural resource management.

In all, 10 in-depth interviews and 5 group discussions were conducted. A number of the
interactions were electronic-based, through e-mails, and a few others through short phone
conversations. These methods together formed the basis of the stocktaking report.

7
The second major process was a thematic workshop in which the report of the stocktaking
exercise was presented to a wider audience and then subjected to discussions. The audience
numbering up to fifty (50) participants were drawn from government agencies, academia, NGOs,
CSOs, farmer-based organisations, producer cooperatives, traditional authorities and opinion
leaders, development partners, and district authorities.

In the ensuing group discussions and plenary presentations, participants discussed in a

participatory manner2 the issues arising from the report and explored other relevant issues
pertaining to the vision of ICARRD. The workshop also made recommendations on mechanisms
through which government, NGOs, CSOs, traditional authorities, and farmer-based organizations
can network and exchange resources and achieve meaningful sustainable rural development.

Though this report explores mainly issues around land access and tenure security within the
socio-cultural and political context of Ghana, it also touches on other salient issues such as
agricultural organisation with respect to credit and farm inputs, which together can shape rural
development and natural management regimes for the benefit of the majority of Ghanaians.

1.3 General framework of land access and tenure security in Ghana

Three legal land regimes are recognised in Ghana comprising the customary, statutory, and
common practice. The last category is a hybrid system resulting from both customary and
statutory practice. This plural legal regime in Ghana may be attributed to the age-long
consolidation of the chief’s and earth priest’s authority on land, long before centralised
government became known. Despite the existence of plural systems governing land
administration traditional authority and customary rules play the most significant influence in
land ownership and use arrangements. This is expected because reliable estimates suggest that
around 80% of lands in Ghana are in the custody of customary authorities.

Land control has over the years sustained the chieftaincy system in Ghana. From the colonial
days to the present, chiefs have openly protested against attempts by successive governments to
take control over lands in this country (Amamoo-Otchere, 1985). Thus chiefs control most of the
lands up to date, and some have argued that the lack of strong political will by governments to
make radical reforms to replace the traditional system are reasons for the pervasive problems
confronting land productivity in Ghana today.

1.31 Customary land tenure and access to land

Customary land tenure is characterised by its largely unwritten nature, and is based on local
practices and norms, flexible, negotiable and location specific. Its principles stem from rights
established through first clearance of land, or conquest. Customary systems are usually managed
by a traditional authority such as a chief or a family head (Bentsi-Enchill, 1975). For the majority

2
At regular intervals, translation of presentations and deliberations from English to Akan was made. This was
considered very necessary in view of the significant rural representation. There was increased understanding of
proceedings and set a stage for lively discussions and debates

8
of the rural populations (and for that matter the majority of Ghanaians), decentralised customary
land tenure systems are still the norm, though marked variations exist between north and south of
Ghana.3

Through patrilineal or matrilineal inheritance systems, communities, families and individuals

belonging to the land-owning group held the customary rights to land used for settlements, food
and cash crop farming, or even rested as fallow lands. Communal rights were, and are still
exercised over any grazing land and fishing grounds by community members (Benneh, 1975,
Kasanga, 2002).

Sharecropping is a system of land use arrangement common in most parts of rural Ghana (excess
land and migrants seeking land). This system of sharecropping functions in two main prominent
ways, namely, abunu and abusa. Under the system of abunu, the completed farmland is
physically divided into two with tenant and landlord taking equal shares of the cropped land. The
tenant from thence enjoys the produce from his farm as long as the crop remains on the land.
Tree crops such as cocoa, oil palm, and coconuts were, and still are, common crops in an abunu
tenancy. In the case of abusa, the proceeds of the land are shared in the ratio of the landlord-
tenant sharing of 1:3.

An important feature in the two sharecropping agreements is the relative contribution of labour
and capital by the tenant farmer and the landowner. In the case of the abunu, the landowner is
expected to contribute some capital and seedlings apart from the land; whilst in the abusa, the
landowner contributes nothing except for the tract of land in use. The tenant farmer is supposed
to use one-third of the share to defray the cost of farm operation, the other one-third as his
personal remuneration, whilst the remaining one-third goes to the landlord as his rent for the
land. Over time, these customary systems are continually evolving because of cultural
interactions and diffusion, socio-economic change and political processes.

“Traditions” and “customary conventions” are continuously being redefined or reinvented to

back conflicting claims of different social groups (Asante, 1975)4. Changes in demography have
diverse causes and effects including urban expansion which severely limits agricultural land;
fragmentation of land holdings; commercialisation of land; and land alienation by customary
authorities. Government acquisitions over the years for infrastructure and conservation purposes
including roads, offices, security installations, educational facilities, forests, and mineral reserves
has also led to land scarcity. The efficacy of the traditional land tenure system is now being
questioned, especially as most of the communal mechanisms - such as broader community
consultation, social equity and safety nets - that ensured easy access to land and transparency in
land administration have been lost.

3
Generally, the north differs in geography, cultural practice, and colonial impact from the south. The allodial title
holders in southern Ghana, especially among the Akan, are represented by chiefs and family heads. In northern
Ghana, this trend is observed by the Dagomba, Mamprusi, Gonja, and Nanumba where allodial title rests with the
Skin (chiefs). The majority of community groups in the north identify Temdamba or earth priests as holding the
allodial title to land on behalf of their community members.
4
Much of the debates on the contemporary relevance of the chieftaincy institution in Ghana have centered on the
emerging interests of the institution in alienating communal land and impoverishing their people. Chiefs have
become owners of land instead of exercising their traditional roles as custodians of lands.

9
As Benneh observes, the changing land tenure patterns in the western part of the country, the
situation changed dramatically, first with the introduction of cocoa and commercialization of the
indigenous agricultural economy, followed by the arrival of land hungry migrants and then an
ever-increasing population in the district (Benneh, 1987; 2000). Other assertions (Alhassan
2001) indicate the growing scarcity of land and problems with its access.

1.32 Compulsory acquisition and access to land

One form of state intervention in land access has been through legislation such as the
compulsory acquisition of land for public interest.5 Under the State Lands Act, 1962 (Act 125),
any land – family, stool, or private – may be acquired where the government considers it to be in
the public interest. Some of such lands have been used to build schools, hospitals, roads, and
administrative offices for the functioning of the state.

As Kotey (2002) observed, the need for the state to acquire lands compulsorily for public
purposes is accepted by most people. But as he elaborated further, the legal basis of this power,
how it has been exercised, and whether compulsory acquisition has taken into consideration the
interests of the owners of the land has been a matter of intense debate.

During the colonial times the exercise of compulsory acquisition was limited to clearly defined
public purposes, and the abundance of land as at then did not pose much problems. Following
independence, many acquisitions were made, sometimes for purposes which were not
demonstrably public (Kotey, 2002). The case of state acquired lands at Ofankor in Accra is often
mentioned as a sour reflection of government acquisition and what actually constitutes use in the
public interest.6

In theory, access to public land is open to all Ghanaians, on a ‘first come first served’ basis.
However, the process of Government land lease preparation has many stages, and can take from
6 months to 10 years or more to complete. Like the case of Ofankor, beneficiaries of state land
allocations are mainly senior civil servants, politicians, top army officers, contractors, business
executives and the land administrators (Kasanga & Kotey, 2001). The above categories of
people, a privileged minority have the means, contacts and power to acquire land on the open
market, yet use their influence to acquire lands cheaply from the state. This has led to inequitable
distribution of public land to the disadvantage of the low/middle income groups who need it
most to survive well.

In the same vein during the era of the Operation Feed Yourself Campaign in Ghana7, programmes
were initiated to boost agriculture and extension services, farm credit and inputs, chemical

5
This, according to Campbell Black (1979), is the State’s right of eminent domain; the State has the right to reassert
temporarily, or permanently, its allodial ownership rights over any part of its territory for the public good
6
An area of 1720 acres of Ofankor lands was acquired in 1977 without any prior consultation “in public interest”.
By1994 unpaid compensation was assessed at around 2 billion cedis. When the residential layout was completed,
plots had been allocated to non-indigenes on ‘first come, first served’ basis. The terms of allocation appeared to be
discriminatory and majority of the indigenes are now landless
7
Under the NRC Government under General I.K. Acheampong, a popular intervention was the “Operation Feed
Yourself Programme” – a programme for achieving food self-sufficiency which was launched in 1973 and faired
pretty well for the first four years

10
fertilizers, and marketing arrangements were put in place for rural farmers to benefit from.
Professionals were encouraged to go into farming, and traditional authorities persuaded to
willingly give out land for food production to make the country food self-sufficient.

The policy worked in its initial 3 to 5 years, with the country nearing food-sufficiency, but the
overall performance was abysmal. High ranking people were the sole beneficiaries of these
subsidised inputs, and government agencies, through relevant regional and district authorities,
used the principle of compulsory acquisition to acquire lands in rural areas. The lands acquired
gave these institutions access to agricultural inputs which instead of being used were resold to
poor farmers who had limited opportunities for accessing these subsidised inputs.

State land policies have created difficult land access to the majority of rural farmers, and there
are grounds for concern that as land becomes scarcer, poorer and more vulnerable groups will
see their claims weakened, leading to their increasing marginalisation and impoverishment.
Since 2002, the Government of Ghana has through its Poverty Reduction Strategy outlined
comprehensive policies, strategies, and programmes to support growth and poverty reduction
over a three-year period (2002-2004). It is informed by the conviction that making land easily
accessible to farmers would enable wealth creation for the benefit of all Ghanaians.

2.0 Concrete modality of the intervention carried out: measures and mechanisms

2.1 Statutory land tenure arrangements and security of tenure

Like the discussions on land access, statutory land arrangements have influenced significantly
tenure security in Ghana. A number of legislation and policies have been made in the past to
initiate, encourage and improve registration of interest in land in Ghana in the hope that security
of land holding would improve and subsequently increase agricultural productivity. Registration
of deeds started in 1843. This was coined into the Land Registry Ordinance of 1895, which was
repealed in 1962 but re-enacted as the Land Registry Act, 1962 (Act 122). Under the Act, any
instrument affecting land could be voluntarily registered so long as it contained a description of
the land.

The Land Title Registration Law, 1986 (PNDCL 152) was introduced as an effective and better
system of land titling and registration. It targeted the problematic land use areas of Accra-Tema
and Kumasi prescribing compulsory title registration to address the shortcomings of the deeds
registration system. In effect, the land title registration process was to eventually phase-out the
Deeds system that existed before it. With compulsory title registration, both individual and
communal interests in land can be registered whether on freehold or leasehold.

2.2 Land registration and security of tenure

Land security is an important component in effective land management. Among other things
secure rights in land can reduce the incidence of land disputes, increase land transactions,
provide greater incentives for investment, and enhance the collateral value of land. It can also
promote food security and protect the interests of land users with derived rights to land. Land
registration has been perceived as a way of increasing land rights. In both registration systems

11
(title or deeds), security of tenure or ownership is ensured in that if there were some contest over
a piece of land, the first of two registered deeds or titles affecting that same piece of land would
prevail.

The registration processes in place in the country had made only modest gains due to the weak
implementation, over-centralised nature, and the general lack of knowledge among Ghanaians of
the possible benefits to be derived from registration. A note of caution, however, is that an
assessment of the success of land registration, and therefore its significance in tenure security, is
difficult to make. This is because the large chunk of land under customary tenure arrangements
are characterised by a serious lack of documentation, and this has meant that it is virtually
impossible to estimate land parcels for various developments. This is why the National Land
Policy (NLP) prescribed speeding up the registration process through decentralising deed
registers to ensure easy access to land and enhance security of land rights.

2.3 The land administration programme

As a follow-up to the NLP, a Land Administration Program (LAP) is currently underway to

improve access to land, and ensure certainty of land rights. The pilot phase of the programme has
been on-going for the last two years and, among other goals, seeks to establish pilot projects in
demarcation and registration of allodial boundaries, land titling and registration offices to
improve deeds and title registration, and to strengthen customary land secretariats for effective
documentation and record keeping of customary land transactions. This process is expected to
last well over 15 years but the first five years would focus on selective piloting of these activities
before wider replication.

The project is divided into four broad components to achieve the stated objectives, and the
relevant areas meant to tackle land access and tenure security include the following:

• Development of a strategy on land disputes, identifying cause of disputes and alternative

methods to resolve land disputes outside the court
• Establishment of land courts in regional capitals to expedite resolution and land cases
• Revision of laws and regulations for an effective and efficient land administration,
including land use planning and valuation
• Strengthening customary land secretariats
• Strengthening public and private sector land administration and management institutions
• Improving Land titling, Registration, Valuation and information systems
• Establishment of model land titling and registration offices
• Improvement of deeds and title registration, including improving access
• Pilot projects in demarcation and registration of allodial boundaries
• Pilot systematic land titling and registration

As observed from the components of the LAP, not only would the programme involve Non-
Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in
implementation, it is also expected to build capacities of these organisations in relevant areas to
ensure that land access is made easier for majority of poor farmers. A logical extension of ease of

12
land access is the fact that farmers or land holders/users who have the benefits of easy access to
land must also have their land rights secured within reasonable limits to exact the necessary will
to invest within the appropriate environment for increased productivity.

2.4 Institutions involved in improving land access and enhancing land rights

A number of state institutions have been charged with implementing various aspects of land
management in the country. These include the Lands Commission, the Land Title Registry, The
Land Valuation Board, the Survey Department, the Department of Town and Country Planning,
and the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands. In addition, the decentralised District
Assemblies and the Traditional Councils do play key roles to complement the proper functioning
of these land management agencies.

Statutory rules on land tenure are usually based on written laws and regulations, and
implemented by state agencies. In addition to managing all government lands in Ghana, the
Lands Commission (LC) is the state agency charged with the responsibility of managing all
stool/skins lands in the country provided for in the Administration of Lands Act, 1962. The
Lands Commission (LC) is responsible for land administration, and its functions are
decentralised to Regional Lands Commissions in each of the 10 regions of the country. It is the
lead land agency and guides and issues certificates to registered lands, as well as keeps stock of
all government lands.

Another important institution is the Survey Department (SD) which is charged with providing
base maps covering the entire country even though detailed maps cover only some areas of the
country. Land registration cannot be done without accurate site plans. In the area of urban and
rural land use planning, the Department of Town and Country Planning (DT&CP) prepares the
Master Plan, and developments are guided by the plan. The Lands Valuation Board (LVB)
assesses the value of land in whatever area and helps determine stamp and other rental charges.
The Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands (OASL) is charged with collecting revenues from
stool/skin (and also family) lands. The Land Title Registry (LTR) plays a major role in ensuring
security of tenure by issuing titles to land owners or holders in the Accra-Tema and Kumasi
Planning Areas. These agencies work together to ensure that land are administered well in the
country.

These land agencies were supposed to coordinate their activities to avoid duplication of efforts,
as well as sharing its core competence with other relevant institutions. For instance the Survey
department provides cadastral maps which enable the Department of Town and Country
Planning to plan for both rural and urban land use. In the process of registration for instance, the
applicant must seek some guidance and clarification in most of the land agencies before
certification or titling. The current lack of coordination of activities among the land agencies is
expected to be rectified by LAP which intends harmonising the activities of these land agencies.

13
2.5 Performance of institutions in land management

Public sector land management institutions have not performed satisfactorily, as they have not
been able to satisfy all groups who use land in one way or the other. A number of constraints
confront them, including:

• Understaffing, and lack of logistics including basic tools and equipment to work with;

• Over-centralization: people are not aware of the roles performed by each of the
institutions engaged in land registration;

• Insufficient training and orientation (including management): many are ill-informed of

the services the land agencies are expected to provide;

• Ineffective performance: disjointed work among agencies and inability to make people
at the grassroots access their services and benefit from land registration;

• Lack of transparency and the lack of accountability to its wider constituents;

• The very cumbersome procedures make their services expensive and time consuming.
This makes people unable and reluctant to afford their services.

The Survey Department lacks the personnel and logistics to demarcate rural land holdings to
facilitate registration and security of tenure. Surveyors use very old and slow technology and
must visit the site to physically survey the land. With few surveyors in the system, this kind of
technology takes a considerable length of time8. The research revealed that there are very few
qualified surveyors in the many rural districts to undertake demarcation and preparation of site
plans for rural farmers. In fact, some of the surveyors also charge some fees to facilitate the
registration process for prospective applicants. The few farmers who make use of such services
claim the fees they pay are higher than the officially stipulated transaction fees.

2.6 Traditional practices for registering customary lands

Government alone cannot institute structures and processes for regulating land rights. Traditional
authorities have played key roles in the administration of land, especially as they control most
lands in the country. To date, ownership data and boundary identification are based on oral
tradition and memory. Boundaries are defined according to physical land marks, some of which
shift over time and a fruitful source for the numerous land litigations found presently in many
parts of the country. The introduction of cocoa and commercialization of the indigenous
agricultural economy, the increasing number of tenant farmers, expanding population, and
increasing land scarcity in the Western Region have all acted to bring to light the traditional
practices of land management and raised concerns of transparency and land security. These and

8
As at the time of our visit to the Wasa Amnfi West District, credible evidence gathered is that there is only one
qualified surveyor in the district in the fiscal year 2003. It is not surprising that few farmers resort to licensed
surveyors, most of whom we are told are unqualified and produce maps without locations. Where locations are
indicated, the coordinates are often wrong and difficult to plot on a Master Sheet.

14
other problems underpin the problems associated with land access and tenure security. This has
prompted some interventions with institutional and logistic support mechanisms. These are
discussed in the next section.

With the absence of the Lands Commission in the district, and the inability of the land agencies
to help many farmers in the management of their land and other natural resources, it cannot be
said that the people are involved in decision making and participate in decisions affecting land
management at the official level. The agencies are not decentralised enough, or where they exist
in districts lack the requisite personnel and logistics to be able to cater for the needs of the
public. This is particularly a serious challenge as the majority of poor rural farmers who together
produce the bulk of the national wealth live in very small settlements where accessibility to
centres of information is difficult.

15
PART TWO: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE THEMATIC DIALOGUE
Ghana’s Thematic Dialogue Workshop took place on 24 January 2006. During this workshop,
the stocktaking exercise (detailed above) was presented to a wider audience of 50 participants
drawn from government agencies, academia, NGOs, CSOs, farmer-based organisations, producer
cooperatives, traditional authorities and opinion leaders, development partners, and district
authorities. In the ensuing group discussions and plenary presentations, participants discussed in
a participatory manner issues arising from the report and explored other relevant issues
pertaining to the vision of ICARRD. The workshop also made recommendations on mechanisms
through which government, NGOs, CSOs, traditional authorities, and farmer-based organizations
can network and exchange resources and achieve meaningful sustainable rural development. Its
findings are explored below.

3.0 Land access and tenure security: customary practices and interventions

Two basic problems confronting efficient use of land in Ghana have to do with the increasingly
difficult access to land in both urban and rural areas, and the insecurity associated with land
holding and use arrangements. All respondents in interviews and group discussions rated these
two problems as serious with severe constraints on agricultural production. In the thematic
workshop deliberations, participants acknowledged the seriousness of these problems and
suggested some remedial actions. There were other land-productivity related issues such as
access to credit, farm inputs, marketing facilities, and extension services

Historically, there are deep-rooted problems associated with accessing land in Ghana. Members
of a farmer-cooperative in Fotobi near Nsawam said customary principles formerly guided
access and use rights to land by community members and outsiders. However, following
increasing commercialisation of land for farming and residential purposes, land has attained a
higher value and can readily be traded for money. The tendency currently is that chiefs and
family heads who hold land in trust for their communities sell or lease these lands to land
acquirers without either consulting their fellowship, or sharing the proceeds with them.

Demographic pressures were mentioned as root causes of land scarcity and the resultant difficulty
for majority of farmers to access land for eking a livelihood. Associated with this is the problem of
land fragmentation, which impedes traditional agriculture. Adequate land is desired since some of
the land must be left fallow after active use for soil nutrient regeneration. In the Nsawam area in
the Akuapem South District, many community members left the area in the 1960s following the
decline of cocoa for better opportunities elsewhere. Some of these farmers have returned after four
decades but have no lands to farm because most of the lands have been sold/leased out to other
land developers who offer enticing sums of money for land.

In the Western Region, population increase, both amongst the indigenous people and migrants,
was equally mentioned as the primary cause of land fragmentation and increasing difficulty to
access land. Nana Ntiakor Ababio, an ex-chief of Anyinabrim emphasized that the situation is
seen differently by different people. In the eyes of policy makers’ population is not an issue, a
fact supported by the relatively low population density in the district (GSS, 2002). This he notes

16
is not reflected in reality because some migrants travel to their home towns during enumerations,
then return to their farming areas after the census is over. This practice has serious implications
for development planning and resource allocation in the area.

Workshop participants agreed with traditional authorities’ assertion that the root cause of
inaccessible land for farming is a result of land alienation by families. Over the years, families
have appropriated community lands because as indigenes, they had rights to virgin or unoccupied
lands, and could work on such parcels without the consent of the chief. These family members
are supposed to inform the chiefs and stools of all share cropping contracts with tenant farmers
but most of them refuse to acknowledge this partly because they do not want to share the benefits
with the stools. The farms from such transactions are eventually passed on to family members
upon the death of the original owner/holder of the land and does not revert back to the
community or stool.

Government’s compulsory acquisition of land for public use is also noted as a serious problem
confronting farmers’ access to land, especially in many parts of the Western region where large
areas are under large oil palm and rubber plantations, forest reserves, and mineral prospecting
and mining. These acquisitions made land easily accessible to government and big time investors
in agriculture, forestry, mining, etc. A traditional ruler observed that large tracts of lands under
forest and mineral reserves are out of the reach of rural farmers even though it is clear many
young people have no land to farm and make a living.

For instance, large-scale mining operations are gradually expanding into the Amenfi area. A
mining firm at Bogoso has recently obtained mineral prospecting rights over a tract of land in the
Anyanabrim stool area of Amenfi. Prospecting limits land available to rural dwellers, thus
increasing their landlessness and poverty. In addition to increasing land scarcity is pollution of
surface water sources often sparking social unrest. In many instances it is poor farmers, including
women who are denied access to land. This increases their poverty as land is the basic productive
resource in rural areas. In addition, access to land guarantees the user some access to water, fuel,
medicinal, and meat resources. Farmers without easy or adequate access to land lose these
resources and may remain in poverty.

Group discussants during the stocktaking exercise and workshop participants said higher rents
result in more land conflicts, and consequently lower productivity of land in the Western Region.
This has been a source of worry for government and land rents regulation is seen as a way out of
the problem. There are approved land rents for rural land use though these vary from place to
place. There is no mechanism to ensure compliance with this stipulated rental levels, hence some
landlords charge the rents they want. An example cited by respondents was the situation in the
Manso Amenfi area, where rents are perched at around ¢60,000 per acre per year. Yet tenants
recount that some of them pay rents in the area of ¢150,000 per acre per year. The result is that
such lands are inaccessible to poor farmers who cannot afford to use them.

The same story was told in the Nsawam area by both tenants and landlords. Farmers of two
cooperatives in different locations: the (i) Adonten Cooperative Pineapple Growers and
Marketing Association in Poukrom, and (ii) the Apesika Pineapple Growers Association in

17
Fotobi. Rent payments are not only arbitrary and unregulated; it is also unfair to poor tenants in
the face of competing demands for land in the pineapple growing areas. Rent charges range from
¢100,000 to ¢250,000 per acre per year. In addition to the high land rents, advance payments are
demanded before tenants are given the nod to use the land. While tenant farmers are expected to
provide 2 to 4 years “cash down” advance rent payments for lands leased from landlords,
members of the cooperative are often not paid immediately when their produce is sold. For
instance, many farmers still have outstanding balances of up to 40% of the pineapple bought
from them since February 2005 by buyers.

During the thematic dialogue, group discussants said the poverty cycle that pervasively plagues
rural producers was due to the lack of credit facilities which could enable tenant farmers make
advance payments for land and make it productive. Since the inception of structural adjustment
and economic liberalisation, no extension services are available and facilitating transport and
marketing of food produce becomes a problem during times of bumper harvest. The need for
producer associations to network more closely and support each other in this liberalised economy
was emphasised by participants.

This situation is very unfair to tenant farmers and exposes them to weaker bargaining capabilities
in their bid to access land for non-traditional export crop production. Large to medium scale
pineapple producers have no problems with land acquisition because they can double or triple the
amounts charged. The consequence is that over the last decade, many small scale pineapple
producers have been forced out of business because they cannot be competitive enough in
accessing land, procuring inputs, and having ready markets for their produce.

From the thematic dialogue it became clear that the position of women as members of
cooperatives is even weaker, as many of them have to rely on their husbands or brothers for part
of the leased land. In Ghana, women’s immense role in agriculture has been acknowledged. But
the majority of these women who contribute immensely to the country’s development have
secondary or derived rights; the right to own or use land for food and cash crop production is a
result of women’s relationship with men or status in their family.

Commercialisation of land has increased the spate of chiefs and family heads who sell out
parcels of land without consulting other members, or sharing the proceeds from the sale. Because
of this development, many indigenes in the Western region are deprived of land that they hitherto
have utilised as a birthright. Though accessing land is comparatively competitive, migrants have
a relatively easier access to land than indigenes because landowners alienate land for economic
reasons. The temptation is to sell or lease land, and in many instances migrants buy or lease is
stronger than the need to bequeath land to descendants.

At Anakum in Wasa Amenfi, individual members within the extended family consider the lands
they currently occupy as personal property. Every member zealously guards against any
intrusion even when the land lies idle. This development is the result of increasing land
fragmentation and increasing difficulty to access land to expand farming as families grow.

18
It is thus clear that traditional mechanisms that were put in place to ensure legitimacy of
“approved” transactions by family heads and other members who held land on behalf of other
community members are no longer adhered to even if they are purported to still be in place.
Some current researches, like that of Janine Ubink, found that in Kumasi market production, as
population growth and urbanisation have combined to enhance the market value of land, many
chiefs in peri-urban Kumasi are changing the customary rules which date back to the past when
communities were involved in subsistence farming in relatively land abundant areas (Ubink,
2005). Some traditional authorities are enacting new laws to reinforce their land rights and
enable them to appropriate land for their own gain. They justify their actions by claiming that
these customary rules are outdated and need to be adjusted to suit modern circumstances.

The old customary land tenure rules found relevance in the fact that people, but not land, were of
significant value to chiefs and communities. Now that land has become a source of power and
wealth, traditional authorities no longer hold it in trust for their people. Another evidence abound
here that most of the traditional mechanisms that assured community members access to land are
no longer practiced, and that the majority of community members are without land.

Recording of land transactions remains very poor in the majority of the secretariats except very
few best practice areas such as the Gbawe Lands Secretariat in Accra, and the Asantehene’s
Land Secretariat in Kumasi. For the majority of traditional areas, land is accessed and paid for
without any documentation to attest the transaction. Knowing of this lapse, some traditional
authorities use the lack of documentation to dispose of lands they have already sold/leased out.
In some areas it is common practice for individual family members to single-handedly dispose
land without the notice of other members. These have created serious problems of double (or
rightly put multiple) sales, disputes and litigations in Ghana.

A female farmer said a married woman has a better edge than an unmarried woman over land in
rural Ghana since the married woman has access to land from both her husband, and the
extended family through male successors. This is why when men lose land it affects a lot of
women. This is especially true for widows, divorced and unmarried women whose chances of
accessing land decreases when their land rights are not recognised by society, or “fronted for” by
spouses. In communities where land is the basis for survival, the generality of women may
suffer, but the truth is that widows and unmarried men may bear a bigger brunt9.

Tenant farmers in Ghana acknowledge that customary tenancy of Abunu and Abusa has in the
past contributed to increased agricultural production, and therefore to the economy of the
country. The stark reality though is that customary tenancy as practiced presently creates
insecurity of title and frustrates tenants. Tenure insecurity though also arise from conflicts
surrounding land boundaries, share cropping/rents payable, lack of documentation of their leases,
double sales of land by landlords, competing demands for land resulting in farmers being ejected
from their holdings because landlords have sold/leased the land to residential developers for
higher gains. All these problems are expected to be resolved by LAP through easy access to land
and improved tenure security.

9
It is important to note that many so-called legal (in both customary and formal sense) land rights women are
purported to enjoy are actually in practice difficult to access.

19
4.0 Lessons learned and challenges: experiences from land rights interventions (land
access and secure tenure)

At present there are few NGOs and CSOs involved in land rights administration or even in advocacy
work related to land access and tenure security. However, some observations from NGOs, CSOs, and
Producer Organisations such as Apex Farmers’ Organisation (APFOG), Centre for Indigenous
Knowledge and Organisational Development (CIKOD), Land for Life, Grassroots Africa and Rights
and Voice Initiative (RAVI) indicate that issues concerning land access and tenure security have not
been properly managed in the country for various reasons. The reasons for the modest gains or failures
are many, and some major ones as identified by CSOs, NGOs, rural farmers, traditional authorities, and
government agencies are as follows:

1. The lack of personnel and logistics have been major constraint to delivery of relevant land
management services. Very limited budgets have meant limited impacts on society and few
Ghanaians are aware of any kind of formal registration, let alone seek registration and
enhance their land rights.

1. Policy interventions have also been over-centralised where no effective services exist at district
levels. Failure of land agencies to make access to land easier has eroded the confidence in these
institutions and subsequently affected their performance.

2. Compulsory acquisition of land for public interest has not improved land access for the majority of
Ghanaians. While some of such lands have been used to build some social infrastructure for the
functioning of the state, access to public land is not really open to all. So far, only powerful and
wealthy people with contacts have been able to benefit from public land administration.

3. Currently, the talk about communities creating land banks for facilitating foreign investments
is likely to impoverish small holders. The issue is in the interest of investors, whose presence
in the business setting of Ghana is over-glorified because of the anticipated benefits
investments will bring to communities. But judging from the experience with compulsory
acquisitions, communities are not likely to take the plea seriously because the creation of
land banks may end up impoverishing local communities.

4. Land access has experienced some changes in the pineapple growing areas. The system that
exists now is ‘cash down’ advance rent payment for lands leased. This is done irrespective
expected produce the tenant farmer is likely to obtain from the farm. Most tenants pay the
rents in advance but are yet to be paid for their produce.

5. In practice, some landlords are not willing to do written documents. They ask tenants to
prepare formal documents with site plans at the tenant’s expense. The cost involved is not
worth parting with because the leases are short and many tenants do not have money to make
cash down advance payments and prepare documents at the same time.

6. Conflicts over landownership rights between chiefs often trickle down to migrant farmers who
occupy disputed land. To maintain their rights to the land, migrant farmers are compelled to pay
tributes to either party to the conflict. This is a serious drain on the resources of migrants.

20
PART THREE: POSSIBILITIES FOR FUTURE COOPERATION
5.0 Suggestions for improvements in land access and tenure security

The views of respondents and group discussants during the stocktaking exercise, together with
the thematic dialogue deliberations are presented in this section. The suggestions are on possible
ways by which partnerships can be built to address issues related to land access and tenure
security, and also credit, information, marketing, and other infrastructure necessary for rural
development. Suggestions on new ways to involve rural producers who need land most with
capacities that would help promote their choices in natural resource management were also
made. Since the Government, through the LAP and its parent Ministry, has a new land
administration reform process on course, most suggestions are on how credible partnerships can
be built and work effectively through increased stakeholder consultations and participation in the
implementation of the already started land administration reform process.

5.1 The way forward for enhanced land access and tenure security

This is particularly the case as specific social priority areas of the LAP have been presented to
CSOs and NGOs to see where these organisations can support the programme.10 Further, the
Project Appraisal Document of the LAP recognises the fact that CSOs and NGOs are expected to
play active roles in implementing components of the communication strategy; assist in
mobilizing and/or building capacity of communities; developing and encouraging the use of
ADR; contracted to undertake studies and analysis on various issues; and finally ensuring that
monitoring, evaluation and impact assessments are participatory.

Recommendations from participants on the way forward preceded by discussions on the role of
the LAP. These are recapped as follows. It is recommended that the following tasks be
undertaken:

• Facilitating and engaging civil society in capacity building and training on land rights
issues and awareness raising.

• Setting standards and monitoring for performance and compliance within the framework
of the desired outcomes in land administration.

• Building partnerships with mutual respect and trust.

• Facilitating and coordinating dialogue between government and other stakeholders.

• Organising national and local fora on land and broader natural resource management.

The LAP has engaged CSOs and NGOs in consultations on building partnerships to effectively
execute programmes. As part of such efforts, a workshop was organised in June on the specific social

10
Some of the social priority areas of the LAP include land rights and access to land; good governance; gender, land
administration and sustainability of natural resource management; and monitoring and evaluation.

21
priority areas of LAP including; Land Rights and Access to Land; Good Governance; Gender and
Land Administration and Sustainability, and Monitoring and Evaluation. Thus these organisations
are contributing towards charting the way forward for each of the priority social concerns of the
LAP. This is also in recognition of the fact that under the Project Appraisal Document of LAP, it is
hoped that the CSOs and NGOs will play active roles in implementing components of LAP.

5.2 Policy/programme recommendations

1. Create awareness on contemporary developments in the administration of land, for the

benefit of the farmer at the village. The land administration reforms being carried out through
the LAP would also create avenues for the dissemination of land-based information to the
grassroots. This it can do through the national media as well as through selected NGOs,
Community Based Organisations (CBOs), and other community groups such as farmer
cooperatives. The media was recognised as a potent force to carry land-based information
and education to the local level. However, there is need for programmes to train media men
to build their capacity in this regard. The media training institutions could put their training
in sharper perspective or context to raise the level of enthusiasm of media men and women in
land issues.

2. To ensure effective execution of the LAP’s objectives, LAP should facilitate and engage civil
society in capacity building depending on its competence. Currently, it is envisaged that
NGOs and other civil society actors would play key roles in outreach and capacity building
of communities using participatory techniques. By developing such partnerships with
relevant community groups with specific core competences, LAP would strengthen both
local and national capacities and ensure ownership and inclusion of marginalised individuals
or groups such as women and migrants in local and national land administration reform
policies.

3. Members of the Apex Farmers’ Organisation of Ghana (APFOG) indicate that there is weak
collaboration among producer organisations. The same problems of weak networks exist
among other NGOs and CSOs in Ghana. Individual efforts within specific organisations must
be harmonised to make them accessible to others. Through networking, an environment for
learning would be created enabling sharing of experiences which will improve information,
enhance decision making, and increase capacities of various organisations. For many farmer
organisations, this would enhance their chances of harnessing their scarce resources into a
critical pool and be able to advocate for credit, farm inputs, and representation at national
level. This would promote “voice and choice” among local communities and build consensus
on issues governing land access and security of tenure between government, traditional
authorities and the range of local community members

4. Rural farmers and cooperatives have weaker capacities; information, credit, organisation,
collaboration, and inclusion in decision making. The LAP should take the lead in building
relevant and appropriate capacities of rural producers through trainer of trainers’ programmes
to have a wider reach and coverage. Supporting farmers’ organisations across gender, youth,
occupational, and religious lines in basic organisational and management practices such as
data gathering and information recording will improve capacities at local levels and would

22
 translate into effective engagement in community affairs, ensuring accountability, supporting
awareness raising and strengthening rights-based initiatives. This way communities will have
stronger voices and choices in issues surrounding land access and security of tenure.

5. While LAP has set standards for performance and compliance within the framework of the
desired outcomes in national land administration, CBOs/NGOs/CSOs are better placed to
execute some of the activities within the land administration framework. These organisations
as implementing partners in the land administration process should be encouraged through
effective networking with the LAP to execute programmes such as community land
demarcation, launching land secretariats, among others. These organisations are in constant
touch with rural communities and have established the necessary links to make them
effective. A farmer-based organisation such as APFOG has a wide membership across the
country and could use this network as a channel for vital information dissemination on the
LAP’s objectives and modalities for achieving these objectives. However, effective
monitoring is needed from the LAP unit to ensure that tasks are performed on time and that
different categories of stakeholders have their activities coordinated effectively for meeting
overall desired objectives.

6. One strong recommendation made by workshop participants is that the objectives of the new
land administration reform can be met if the LAP treats its partners with mutual respect and
trust. This means transparency in collaborative activities where major decisions affecting
other partners (or stakeholders) must be seen to be arrived at through dialogue and openness.
This is important to build trust among various stakeholders in order that commitment and
unity of purpose prevails. This is also a necessary condition for stakeholder commitment and
involvement in collective action. In the same vein, weaker groups should be supported to
play roles that are equal and vital

7. More than ever before, the pressure is on to prove the effectiveness of efforts that claim to
lead to more sustainable development. This calls for more dialogue and consultation to be
able to identify stakeholders and assign responsibilities for action. The LAP can facilitate the
implementation of the new land administration reforms through national and local fora on
land and broader natural resource management since there is an intricate relationship between
access to land and security of tenure on the one hand, and sustainable natural resources
management and rural development on the other. the are important for reaching promoting
empowerment, ensuring inclusion and reaching consensus on key issues, as well as for
generating useful information on land access and tenure security leading to effective,
appropriate planning and implementation of rural development programmes. The LAP
should assist in this process by initiating and facilitating processes of information exchange,
networking, consultation, and above all coordination of all core competences. National and
local fora would provide both the space and audiences that matter in land and natural
resource administration thus providing opportunities of exchange of ideas and reflect on
progress in the light of expected outcomes. It would bring together policy
makers/implementers, traditional authorities, rural producers, women’s associations, and
development workers. These groups will be in the position to appreciate each others’ roles,
and thus facilitate the building of a level playing field for allowing expression of views and
concerns.

23
8. The workshop in Ghana recommended a proposal to ICARRD (as attached in the Annexes)
on ways of facilitating partnership building to improve land and natural resource
management, which would positively impact on rural farmers and producer organisations
through enhanced incomes and improved living standards.

6. 0 Proposal from Ghana To ICARRD on ways of improving land access and tenure
security in Ghana

Access to land and security of tenure are key concerns for the majority of rural farmers and other
natural resource users in Ghana. In fact many of the urban dwellers in towns equally face
daunting problems with land access and tenure security. For the majority of poor income earners,
land productivity remains low because of problems associated with its acquisition and security of
tenure. This is unfortunate since the focus of sustainable livelihoods in the country is on land
resource management.

Ghana’s long-term vision is to become a middle-income country by the turn of year 2020. As an
agriculture-driven economy, any expected increases in human welfare must first and foremost
see to the improvement of agricultural production and productivity. Though this is envisioned in
the GPRS through “modernisation of agriculture and agro-based industries,” and includes
commodity export activities, civil society and community engagement are necessary to address
the development needs of the country.

It is in this light that concerns from both the stocktaking and thematic dialogue exercises
recommended partnership building to bring about sustainable land and natural resource
management. This partnership would include NGOs, CSOs, traditional authorities, district
administrations, identified community groups, and central government.

6.1 Objectives and related activities

The objectives and the activities of the programme would include the following:
1. Building partnerships at local and national levels for regular dialogue and consensus
building on land and natural resources related issues. Related activities to the above
objective are regular consultations such as meetings, briefing sessions, workshops, etc

2. Information dissemination (information on land rights) – what to do and where to get

the information on what to do. Related activities include information dissemination –
workshops, radio programmes, posters, drama and theatre, etc.

3. Ensuring broad community/stakeholder participation in rules (both statutory and

customary) associated with land rights (ownership and use). These can be done through
workshops and meetings to disseminate information on land legislation and policies; and
monitoring progress of stakeholder dialogue through meetings and reviews.

24
 4. Build capacities and strengthen stakeholder groups’ access to land information such as
public acquisition and benefits they stand to gain. Training workshops (trainer of
trainers), training programmes on community land management such as data collection
(on used and unused land, type of land use, ownership and use boundaries, accessing data
from other relevant sources for use in planning and execution of land rights activities,
information collation, dissemination and use of information regular meetings

5. Build data bases on land ownership, boundary demarcation, and ensure ease of
accessibility of this information to users through lodging documents at palaces, district
court or other places collectively agreed by community. Community land demarcation
exercises and adoption of informal but security-enhancing documentation of land.

6. Decentralised local arrangements such as meetings and activity schedules broken into
local, district, regional and national levels. Local levels should have specific schedules
that take cognisance of local peculiarities and realities. Such as meetings and seminars
that serve as learning processes where simple and standardised procedures for land
documentation can be adopted to enhance security of ownership or tenure

6.2 Key actors

Key actors to be involved in this programme would include government land/natural resources
agencies, NGOs, CBOs, CSOs, traditional authorities, district authorities, and other identifiable
community groups such as migrant, women and youth groups.

6.3 Methods

Participatory methods would be used to achieve the set objectives. These will be rural appraisal
methods which will identify key stakeholders in land management through interviews and group
discussions. Also, information dissemination, through radio and community open places (such as
markets and durbars, festivals and ceremonies), should occur.

In conclusion, it is significant to note that this proposed programme would draw synergies from
outcomes of the ICARRD initiative, namely the promotion of learning and constructive dialogue
among actors/partnerships to address agrarian reform, sustainable rural development, and rural
poverty issues through the creation of platforms for monitoring and evaluation of best policies
and practices on agrarian reform and rural development.

7.0 Conclusion

Both the stocktaking and thematic workshop acknowledge that easy access and security of tenure
would promote the productive use of land and improve the general well-being of the citizenry.
This is particularly true for rural areas where close to 90% of the population derive their
sustenance from land-based activities including agriculture, forestry and mining.

Indeed, it is true that equitable access to land is strongly advocated because land is a key asset for
many rural and urban dwellers everywhere in the world (IIED, 2005). There is therefore strong links

25
between democracy and equitable access to land. “Control over land is a means by which the rich
can exert power over their poorer neighbours. … where land distribution is very unequal,
programmes to title land will further entrench such unequal property rights” (IIED, 2005: p.5).

Ghana’s long-term vision to become a middle-income country by the turn of year 2020 with
significant improvements in living standards depend greatly upon improvements in agricultural
production and productivity. But demographic pressures, customary and state policies and
practices, and the increasingly liberalised economy continue to undermine agricultural
production and rural development. Increases in food production and export revenues would come
only if easy land access and tenure security are guaranteed.

Though a number of interventions have, since the last one-and-a-half centuries, been undertaken
to streamline land administration in the country, these interventions (both policy and legal
instruments) have only partly addressed problems associated with land rights, especially land
access and security of tenure.

The vision of the FAO through ICARRD would go a long way toward supporting the
redefinition of policies associated with land administration in Ghana. This is particularly
important at the time when the land administration programme is on course, and seeking closer
collaboration and partnership with CSOs, NGOs, and traditional authorities who could contribute
immensely towards charting the way forward, including in the priority social concerns identified
by the LAP. Aspects of policy definition and, notably, policy implementation that involve
community stakeholders is particularly important to achieve results anticipated, learn lessons,
and integrate past experiences and the diversity of existing concerns and interests.

The recommendations provided by the consultations in Ghana identify both stakeholders, key
tasks involved, and modalities for achieving those tasks. Government and civil society must act
together to move forward sustained rural development to reduce poverty to tolerable levels. It is
hoped that this report would provide useful inputs to ICARRD deliberations and finally provide a
process that will assist the LAP reshape the agrarian reform programmes in Ghana. Any
intervention that seeks to help propel Ghana to achieve anticipated living standards for the
majority of its people is most welcome. But as we understand it, it is the strength of the
partnerships in Ghana that will sustain its development, and also promote a global platform of
exchange and iterative lesson learning among countries worldwide.

26
ANNEXES

Annex 1: Workshop program

Ghana Thematic Workshop on Land Access and Security of Tenure in Ghana

Miklin Hotel, East Legon, Accra

Tuesday, January 24th, 2006

8.30 am - Arrival and Registration of Participants

9.00 am - Introduction of Chairperson/Chairperson’s Remarks

9.15 am - Brief Review of ICARRD and Objectives of Ghana Thematic

Workshop by Country Consultant

9.35 am - Findings of Stocktaking Exercise in Ghana (by Country

Consultant)

10.15 am - Plenary Discussions of Issues Raised in the Report

10.45 am - Snack Break

11:00 am - Group Thematic discussions

12:30 pm - Lunch

1:30 pm Presentations from Plenary Discussions

2.30 pm - General Discussions on Presentations and conclusive

Remarks on each group thematic issue

3:45 - The Way Forward: Recommendations for Finalization of

Ghana Thematic Contribution for ICARRD and for Project Proposal/s

4.45 pm - Final remarks/ Wrap-up of Discussions/

5.00 pm - Closing/Refreshment

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Annex 2: Group thematic discussions

Guide for plenary discussions – five key areas were anticipated for group discussions to
complement as well as reshape the findings from the stocktaking exercise.

1. Customary land access

• Which institutions are involved in governance of customary lands?

• What are customary modes of access to land (past and current methods of land
governance)/
• How accessible (affordable in term of cost, etc) is customary lands?
• What land rights do women and other vulnerable groups have?
• How equitable is women’s access to customary lands?
• What can be done to ensure participation by land users in decision making and
accountability concerning land access
o efforts needed now based on past experiences (policies and
programmes)
o who should be included in the efforts (relevant stakeholders)
o what roles should they play (organizational, capacity building,
advocacy, etc)
o how can collective actions by stakeholders succeed (what does it take
to achieve desired goals/objectives)
• Other comments/suggestions

2. Access to state lands

• Which institutions are involved in governance of state lands?

• How is state/public lands accessed in Ghana (past and current methods of land
governance)
• How accessible (affordability in term of cost, connections, etc) is public lands
• How equitable is access to state lands (by women, youth, migrants, etc)
• What can be done to ensure effective management of public lands
• How do we ensure broader accountability of public institutions in land
management to society
o Re-organizational efforts (institutional, policies, programmes, etc)
o capacity building
o awareness creation, etc
o closer monitoring, etc
• Other comments/suggestions

3. Customary tenure security

• What are the main problems confronting tenure security in Ghana

• Who (or what groups of people) are most affected by tenure security
• What avenues exist for improving tenure security (documentation of transactions?)
• Under what conditions is tenure security guaranteed?

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• How do we ensure broader societal participation and accountability in issues surrounding
secure tenure (periodic reporting, review of regulations, etc)
• How would women and migrants assert their rights over land?

4. Policy reforms

• What policies are needed to improve land access and tenure security?
• Who should be responsible for such policy?
• How should decisions/discussions on land policy proceed? (bottom-up, all inclusive,
etc)?
• What role should traditional authorities play in such policy formulation and execution?
• What role should LAP play in land policy formulation and implementation?
• How would policy/programmes be disseminated? (And by whom?)
• What are the requirements for implementing land policy at community levels (policy
dissemination, capacity building, local/national level advocacy work, etc.)?
• What are the levels of resolution at local, district and national levels?
• How would efforts at various levels be resolve/ How would they link?
• What yardsticks should be used to measure performance?

5. What role should LAP play in fostering partnership in the ongoing reform?

• Outreach activities
• Capacity building
• Information dissemination
• Decision making/ implementation of programmes
• Coordination of activities
• Promoting dialogue through land fora

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Annex 3: Workshop participants

No NAME ADDRESS TELEPHONE/EMAIL

1 Nashiru Kadri Northern Livestock Farmers Association 0243-664548
(NLFA) (N/R)
2 Patrick A. Apullah National Cotton Farmers Association 0244-542197
(NCFA) (N/R)
3 Kwasi Owusu- Boadi Cocoa Grower and Marketing 0244-406617
Association (COGMAG) (C/R)
4 Monica Awuku Seed Producers Association of Ghana 0244-876063
(SEEDPAG) (V/R)
5 Daniel Akutteh CHRAJ, Box 50, Asankrangwa 039-222042
6 Nana Kwaku Nuako Box 8, Nkakaa
7 Mary Bukari Box 8, Nkakaa
8 Alex Bogya Box 19, Manso-Amenfi
9 Abass Mohammed A. Agricultural Extension Agent, Manso- 0243-114696
Amenfi
10 Kojo Kyeremiah Anwiatutu
11 Graham A. Kissi Antobam
12 Seth Appiah Chichiso 0242-527654
13 Nana Kwabena Boakye Asankrangwahene’s Palace, Box 1, 0242-518045
Asankrangwa
14 Joseph F. K. Oppong Customary Lands Secretariat, Wasa- 020-8602344
Akropong, Wasa Amenfi
15 S. Alberto Tekyi District Chief Executive, WAWDA, 020-28155894
Box 50, Asankrangwa
16 Nana Kojo Bogyah II Box 9, Manso-Amenfi, Anakum 031-27098
17 Auntie Aba Pineapple farmer, Yawkrom 0243-134672
18 Mercy Atieomo Calvary Christian Centre Women
Farming Group, Kwakyikrom, Nsawam
19 Dzableokor Abbey Calvary Christian Centre Women
Farming Group, Kwakyikrom, Nsawam
20 Ben Quashigah Apesika Pineapple Growers’, 0243-650590
Association, Fotobi, Nsawam
21 Asare Oppong Apesika Pineapple Growers’ 0243-421353
Association, Fotobi, Nsawam
22 Alfred Lartey Akraman Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ and
Marketing Co-Operative Society, Akraman
23 Quarshie Larbi Akraman Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ and 0244-973573

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47 Jennifer Orgle Care International,
Marketing Accra
Co-Operative Society, Akraman 020-8112433
24 L.C. Mantey Adonten Co-Operative Pineapple [email protected]
0244-446519
48 Isaac Effah Growers and Marketing Society, 0244-760259
Pokrom, Nsawam
49 Henry Aryee Mensah IAS 0244-215582
25 Alfred Anim Adonten Co-Operative Pineapple
50 Osman Alhassan Growers’ and Marketing Society,
Land for Life/University of Ghana [email protected],
Pokrom,
233 Nsawam
243 402853 [email protected]
26 Iddrisah Yusif M. Ministry of Food and Agriculture 0244-513309
(MOFA), Nsawam
27 Bethel Akpotosu Ministry of Food and Agriculture 0244-482022
(MOFA), Nsawam
28 Samuel R.A. Okine District Assembly, Nsawam 0243-286161
29 Georgina Nortey Pineapple farmer, Yawkrom 0243-134672
30 Ken Kinney The Development Institute, Box AN 672544/020-8192239
11613 [email protected]
31 Francesca P-Hayford Dept. of Women, Ministry of Women 228064
and Children, Accra
[email protected]
32 Pamela Pozarny Land Tenure Officer, FAO 675000,
[email protected]
33 Ntewusu Samuel Institute of African Studies, University 0244-595963
of Ghana [email protected]
34 Thomas Ansre LAP, Ministry of Lands, Forestry and 675409/0244-330368
Mines (MLFM) [email protected]
35 Santiago Dennis LAP, Ministry of Lands, Forestry and 0243-334137
Mines (MLFM) [email protected]
36 George Tachie-Mensah Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines 663133
(MLFM)
37 Jonathan Adabre Public Agenda 0277-353121/021-238820
[email protected]
38 Amina Ndifi GTZ/GGP, Accra
39 Mr. Richard D Nartey Land for Life, Accra 0244-385975
[email protected]
40 Peter Narh Dept. of Planning, KNUST 0243-980128
41 Isaac Sopelle Institute of African Studies, Legon 0244-544587
42 Gwendolyn Quaye Legon Centre for International Affairs, 0244-623429
Legon [email protected]
43 Eric O. Sackey Gbawe Customary Lands Secretariat 0277-073539
44 Eugene Quartey Gbawe Customary Lands Secretariat 020-9030559
45 Yakubu Zakaria Grassroots Africa, Madina 0244-287212
46 George Awudi Friends of the Earth Ghana, Accra 0277-432014
[email protected]

31
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