Africa welcomes first continental land policy framework, guidelines

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Africa Welcomes First Continental Land Policy Framework, Guidelines

Lilongwe, Malawi, 28 October 2010 (ECA) – The Framework and Guidelines for Land Policy in Africa were launched in the Malawian capital today, raising hopes Africa can put order and coherence in its land governance, to effectively avert what is widely perceived as another scramble for its lands.

The launching ceremony was organised to coincide with this year’s annual Conference of African Ministers of Agriculture (CAMA), on the theme “Delivering on Africa’s Agricultural Development Agenda”, and presided over by the African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Ms Tumusiime Rhoda Peace.

In a hall packed with members of the Malawian government, representatives of the African Land Policy Initiative (LPI), academics, investors and leaders of farmers’ organisations, Mr. Josué Dioné, Director of the Food Security and Sustainable Development Division at Economic Commission for Africa first took the floor to stress the purely consultative role and technical nature of the Framework and Guidelines.

As we launch “these Framework and Guidelines”, he clarified, let it be well understood that “it is not a policy document; it is not a strategy; it is just a tool to help formulate and implement comprehensive land policies” for this sector that is the pivot of all development initiatives, he said.

“Developed through extensive consultative participatory processes, including reviews, issues, lessons and best practices”, he explained, .this “tool can only be useful only to the extent that it is used for policy formulation”; he added.

Hereiterated the commitment of the AUC/ECA/AfDB Consortium to support the ongoing and future efforts of the Land Policy Initiative through capacity building, technical advice, experience sharing and monitoring and evaluation.

Mr. Massamba Diene, Manager of Operation Strategies and Policies at the AfDB then took the floor to recall the financial and technical support the Bank had provided the Land Policy Initiative since its inception in March 2006, and outlined the conditions and processes for future assistance.

Before Ms. Rhoda Peace officially launched the Guidelines, she praised the work accomplished by the Consortium and expressed the desire of the African Union Commission to bring order into a sector that is potentially full of conflict.

Land, she said, “is not just a resource for the people of Africa, but a right and a political good – central to their livelihoods, cultures, economies and security” of its populations.

She underscored the importance for “equitable access to land by African peoples, its security of tenure and its transparent governance as essential factors of sustainable socio-economic growth, political stability, and food security”.

Lively Debate

Shortly after the launch, a High level Panel Discussion on “Land-Related Foreign Direct Investment in Africa” led by policy analysts, land specialists and author, African agricultural investors, academics, sociologists and joined by ordinary Africans.

Carefully selected for their insights in land issues, and more importantly for their independence of thought, panellists agreed on the fact that order needs to be put in the current massive foreign investments in Africa’s lands; but differed sharply on whether it is right to consider the growing phenomenon “a land grab by foreigners”.

The discussion steadily turned into why there are so many land conflicts in Africa, with some discussants citing recent full blown land conflicts in Zimbabwe and Kenya. The fact that it is generally easier for foreign investors to acquire land in Africa than the locals was noted as a potential source for future conflict; that the new tool ought to address.

One of the participants recalled that although Africa accounts for up to 15 percent of the earth’s surface, it has so far been able to put just 2 percent of that into use. But he was quickly countered with another figure…. “It is projected that by 2050 Africa’s population could increase to as much as 9 Billion. Where are we going to live, to farm?” he asked.

In a written contribution, a representative of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) called for the “framework and guidelines to be used to sensitize on land grabbing”, citing a World Bank report of September 2010 that states that:

“… The demand for land has been enormous. Compared to an average annual expansion of global agricultural land of less than 4 million ha before 2008, 45 million ha worth of large scale farmland deals were announced even before the end of 2009.

More than 70% of such demand has been in Africa”.

“The fact that most of these demands are made to relatively unstable countries” shows that the element of grabbing cannot be dismissed, the PAP envoy said.

Finally, all agreed that the Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa could not have come at a better time; but that the real challenge now lies in how they are used by African governments and the civil society.

Way forward

The stakeholders in the new initiative are making no mistake about the challenges that lie ahead for its effective implementation, not least because key partners in the LPI Consortium are not implementing agencies.

On the eve of the official launch, representatives of the consortium and development partners met informally to chart the road ahead past the launching ceremony, amidst concerns that the present LPI secretariat might be too lean to carry out the kind of robust communication and advocacy work that would be necessary to ensure buy-in and ownership of the framework and guidelines at country level.

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4/3/2014 Article - Africa Welcomes First Continental Land Policy Framework, Guidelines

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At the meeting that was attended by AfDB, Alliance for the Green Revolution in Africa, ECA, the European Union, IFAD, International Land Coalition, and GTZ, members recommitted to sustained support for LPI, calling the framework and guidelines an essential tool for land governance in Africa.

However, they prodded the secretariat to urgently establish communication and advocacy strategies, with timeframes and deliverable indicators; and share with participants by the end of November 2010.

One of ECA’s participants at the consultation, Mr. Tony Nwanze, stressed on the need for existing sectorial initiatives on the continent to integrate the continent-wide framework and guidelines, arguing that their activities could, at best, confuse funding agencies and at worst, undermine the efforts put into the development of the new Framework and Guidelines.

That too, is another assignment for the LPI secretariat to fashion a strategy on how to work with existing land initiatives in a way that federates, rather fragments land governance in Africa.

Issued by the ECA Information and Communication Service P.O. Box 3001

Addis Ababa Ethiopia

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