the land delivery system. Finally, we also want to highlight the context whereby agricultural land is being eroded by urban expansion and implication in terms of land tenure dynamics.<sup>21</sup> This systemic analysis of the land delivery system makes it possible to answer a series of questions: What is the origin of the plots that are transacted on the market and that allow households to become land owners? What are the means at the disposal of households to access land and why is there such a diversity of access modes? Why is informality so resilient in spite of different attempts over the past two decades to develop and stimulate formal land markets? What is the role of legislation/regulations and land institutions in the different ways land is accessed? What is the role of intermediaries such as “coxers”<sup>22</sup> , surveyors and notaries in the allocation and sale of land? What are the causes of conflicts that characterize access to land and why are they so numerous?

In Section 2 below, we present the methodology for our work. In a subsequent section, we describe how land is supplied through the different land delivery channels and in Section 4, we explain how these channels interact to form a land delivery system. Section 5 presents the results of a survey we carried between February and April 2012 and which provided detailed tenure information on recent land transactions in the district of Bamako, its peri-urban areas and the rural hinterland. Section 6 discusses the difficulties encountered to access to land for housing and the conflicts that this generates.

# **2. METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY**

# **2.1. A systemic perspective on land delivery channels**

Answering the questions set out in the previous section requires adopting a systemic perspective on land delivery channels, their dynamics and their interaction. This approach is particularly relevant for cities undergoing rapid spatial expansion and characterized by a plurality of land tenure situations.<sup>23</sup> Land delivery channels refer to all the steps in the process whereby land (i) is initially made available to buyers or allottees (origin of the land), (ii) undergoes an often incremental formalization of tenure (which is seldom obtained by the initial buyers or allottees), and (iii) is sold on land markets before or after formalization. The concept of land delivery channel complements that of land market, which refers only to transactions on land at a given point in time, irrespective of the origin of the land and of the step of the formalization process at which the transaction takes place.<sup>24</sup> . Knowing the origin of the land, the step within the tenure formalization process and the market segments on which that land can be sold makes it possible to underline the interrelations between the different land delivery channels. This justifies the use of the phrase “land delivery system”, which includes the three channels identified in the present study and their interrelations. Identifying the origin of the land is particularly important in peri-urban areas and in the rural hinterland since it makes it possible to understand, for instance, how agricultural land is incrementally being transformed into urban land and thus to consider land markets in a historical and dynamic perspective. A residential plot supplied on the market often has a customary and agricultural origin; which means that any change in the supply of customary land has an impact on the land market segments where it can be sold out. Knowing the steps of the formalization process, which is long and costly, gives valuable indications on the options available to households to obtain secure tenure depending on their income levels and social connections. Lessons learned from the analysis make it easier to understand differences between formal and informal markets and the diversity of market segments which largely account for the tenure types and corresponding levels of security.

> 21 In a study conducted in the rural _commune_ Sanankoroba, Djiré (2004) observes that Malian farmers are being excluded from (official) land ownership.  Ownership of valuable lands is increasingly concentrated in the hands of public servants and entrepreneurs living elsewhere.

> 22 “Coxers” are intermediaries who mostly operate on informal land markets throughout the Bamako area and to whom many buyers and sellers resort to transact land.  They have informers in peri-urban villages to identify land that can be transacted and negotiate with village authorities.  They are thus key players in the conversion process of rural land into urban land. They are also aware of the “tricks” in order to circumvent regular procedures and deal with the administration to make sales effective.  They are often found in publicly visible places, including on the side of roads not far from plots that are for sale, even on the formal market.

> 23 We try to avoid the term land tenure “duality” which does not appropriately convey the idea of a plurality of situations along a continuum from completely informal to completely formal situations (UN-Habitat, 2012).

> 24 See Dowall (1995) for a description of the standard tool for land market assessments in developing countries.

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