An evaluation of the impact of land tenure system on agricultural development in West Gonja District, Ghana

Since time immemorial, land has been the focus of the life of tribes as a whole. Because of its indispensability, land has been at the centre of many problems of usufructural and alloidal nature. In some countries, the problem of land distribution has been one of the causes of revolutions, resulting in drastic land reforms. This is because land is a national asset and it must be available for use by the members of the community. Land is needed in rural areas mostly to produce food to support life. If there is no easy access to land or no equity of distribution of land, conflicts are bound to occur and this will slow down development. In Ghana, like in other African countries, there is great disparity between food production and demand d to low productivity. The Land Tenure systems have contributed in no small measure towards this as confirmed by the findings of this study. This fact has also been recognised by the Seminar on Land Tenure Agrarian Systems and rural development sponsored by FAO and held in Ghana in June, 1 965. The seminar concluded that Land Tenure Systems in Africa are a barrier on development. Also to some schools of thought, land tenure systems are the main contributory factor to the food Shortages and deplorable economic conditions in Africa. This assertion is in line with the findings of this study. The over-riding objective of this study has been t o find out the relevance of Land Tenure as a constraint of agricultural development. An individual farmer questionnaire interview was conducted in sampled areas. The questions were mainly directed in finding out the various ways in which land tenure and related factors are constraints on agricultural development. Some of the major findings include: in conformity with the literature on Ghanaian customary land law, it was found that land is generally regarded as a communal property. The chief is the Land Custodian. Subjects have inherent rights over the land, so occupied. Strangers on the other hand have no such rights; their presence on such land is by grant. Subsistence family farm is the basic unit. Farms are small and scattered which makes the use of tractors uneconomical and the practice of irrigation not feasible. It also contributes to the poor distribution of inputs to the farmers. It was also found out that share cropping, land disputes, shifting cultivation are the common features of the land tenure system in the study area. It is concluded that the constraints imposed by the land tenure system and related factors account for the low output in t1 agricultural sector and thus contribute to the law income of the farmers in the district. In the light of the conclusion above, it is recommended that the land tenure system be modified by a voluntary consolidation of the farms into economic units. This will take the form of co-operative farms which will neither be too small nor excessively large. In addition, there is a need for mild reforms in various traditional practices as in the case of share cropping. The traditional pattern of production should also be modified backed by adequate supportive services which will act as a catalyst in agricultural development.

Source: KNUST