Journal of Land and Rural Studies

Securing land rights and the rationalisation of the debate on formalisation of land rights through titling have been the focus of many scholars for some time now. At least, there is consensus among most scholars that land registration is one of the ways of addressing these issues and that current land registration system in most developing countries needs reforms. This paper examines the design and implementation processes of land registration reforms in Ghana. Using the Greater Accra Regional Lands Commission as a case study and institutional design theories, the article analysed how land registration reforms were design and implemented. The paper shows that the design strategies for the reforms were harmonisation of policies and laws and organisation restructuring at the organisational and process levels, but staff resistance to change led to implementation flaws. The paper recommends that institution design of land registration reforms must be combined with the theory of change where all staff are taken through the new organisation’s work ethics and attitudinal change processes adequately.

This study examines the level and determinants of households’ vulnerability to food insecurity using feasible generalised least square method. Data were collected using structured questionnaires from a random sample of 574 households. Descriptive results indicated that the incidence, depth and severity of food insecurity were 68, 31 and 18 per cent, respectively, while mean vulnerability to food insecurity was 73.34 per cent. The mean level of vulnerability to food insecurity at Chencha (humid), Demba Gofa (semi-arid) and Kamba (arid) districts were 77, 55 and 84 per cent, respectively. In addition, the mean kilocalorie deficiency gap in the study areas was 682 Kcal per adult equivalent per day, while the mean kilocalorie deficiency gaps which would be needed to lift households out of food insecurity were 462, 440 and 506 Kcal per adult equivalent per day at Chencha (humid), Demba Gofa (semi-arid) and Kamba (arid) districts, respectively. Regression results revealed that the age of household head, family size, safety net programmes, distance from healthcare and death of household members significantly increase households’ vulnerability to food insecurity. But farm income, irrigation use and credit use significantly decrease households’ vulnerability to food insecurity. The government needs to provide credit, viable off-farm employment, small-scale irrigation services and road infrastructure to rural poor to reduce vulnerability to food insecurity. Population control and family planning would also increase resource and consumption per capita and will lead to lower vulnerability.

In rural areas, agriculture is the primary source of income, and the income depends on the primary factor of production, land. The higher the productivity of the land, the higher the income and general prosperity and lower the levels of poverty. However, it may not always be true if the benefit from the higher productivity accrues to a certain section of large farmers, bypassing the small ones. The study found that, the introduction of irrigation in a poverty-stricken region has promoted advanced capitalist farming and raised the level of output per unit of land. On the other hand, it has led to greater landlessness and inequality among various farm size groups. The benefit is concentrated among few farmers. In this process, there is greater ‘proletarianisation’, which needs to be stopped from worsening the situation further.

The right to own and derive value out of the land, (cf. ownership) is a human right enshrined in the constitution of most democratic countries. Land reform is arguably the most emotional, socio-economic, and political subject of the colonial and post-colonial era of the African continent. It is a subject that has remained sacred and a taboo creating a fertile ground for protracted political, social, economic, and religious conflicts. Many African indigenous communities are genuinely struggling to address inequality and deprivation. Despite the overwhelming economic demand to address the land question, only a handful of African countries have been bold enough to tackle the issue head-on, sometimes with dire consequences. In the current article, we use the Zimbabwe land reform programme as a case and through a biblical lens show cause for land not just as a commodity where belonging is the ultimate deciding factor but rather emphasise ownership by stewardship. This perspective is compatible with modern systems of governance, ubuntu in the African traditional culture, and encourage efficiency of production to achieve food security despite the polarised discourse of land reform in most countries.

Agricultural dominant societies in India have slowly shifted from traditional agricultural practices to modern infrastructural development. The recent trend of developing high-tech cities is an effort by the Punjab government to bring additional investment to the state and boost its economy. But to do that at the expense of highly fertile agricultural land is a debatable proposition. One of the most recent ventures towards this objective is the kind of development being initiated in the vicinity of Chandigarh and Mohali by Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA)—an Aerocity Expansion project. This article will focus on Patton, Kurai and Seon—three out of 14 villages where 1,305 acres of land have been proposed to be acquired. This article explores blatant land grab practices by the state authority in the name of development, which act as barriers to the food security and threaten the livelihood of those whose land will be acquired in the near future. The study will further focus on people’s perception of the new development project initiated by GMADA.

Livelihood resources are varying from one region to another due to natural and human factors. There are no such studies that consider a broad geographical region and tribal livelihood options and livelihood security. So the present study can fulfil such a literature gap. The present study makes an attempt to analyse livelihood options and livelihood security among the tribals. The study was carried out along the south western plateau and highland region in West Bengal. Secondary data and the primary data have been used. Purposive stratified random sampling technique was used to collect the primary data. Sustainable livelihood framework (SLF) has been used for the selection of factors and indicators. The core outcome of the research is that small landholding size and traditional technology are no longer to meet the rising demands of tribal population. Forest resources are also very rapidly declining due to the huge industrial demands and ever-increasing household needs. Now tribal people are travelling long distances to collect forest products than ever before. The better education opportunities to the younger generation could open up new occupational opportunities and economic diversification and that definitely leads to the good economic status of the tribal people.

The political economy of our time asserts that value equates to monetary price. This tendency to equate value in terms of monetary price continues in case of the value of land. An understanding of plural values of land encourages us to look beyond monetary price. The article considers two land acquisition cases in India, as a source of empirical data to demonstrate the existence of plural value of land and limitations of monetary price–based valuation theory.

The purpose of this article is to examine the nature and process of implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act 2006 and the challenges at the enforcement level in the state of Jharkhand. To this end, this article assesses the status and trend of forest rights recognition in the state by reviewing the existing forest rights claim database and unravels the challenges of forest rights enforcement based on information from 12 villages in 3 districts—Ranchi, Godda and Hazaribagh. The analysis indicates that recognition of forest rights claim is uneven, non-transparent and stagnant in Jharkhand. Some of the major factors for this state of affairs are: the ambiguous role of implementing agencies, lack of financial and human resources at the district and sub-divisional levels, absence of a dedicated tribal department, no horizontal integration within and among implementing agencies and failure of state administration to provide an opportunity for participation in recognising forest rights claimants.

Energy plays an indispensable role in providing basic services for our daily lives. The perils of climate change and its impact on our environment have made accessibility of energy difficult. The burden of energy poverty falls particularly on the poor households in rural areas. Decentralised renewable energy options can be used to meet the energy requirement especially for the rural and tribal communities, which are scatteredly located. The study aims to find out the effectiveness of a renewable energy project at village level by studying the experiences of the Ho tribal community residing in Barapita village of Odisha, India. Barapita village is the first 100 per cent solar powered village of Odisha. Participatory rural appraisal method comprising tools such as transect walking, interview schedule, focus group discussion and key informant interviews has been used to find out the energy use pattern and challenges faced by the community. Although the solar project was initially a success, later on technical issues and maintenance problems led to the decline of solar energy use. This article suggests how the Gandhian model coupled with Nai Talim approach can be deployed to train the villagers as solar engineers, which will enable them to resolve issues related to the use of renewable energy.

Tribal communities in India are most deprived. Socio-economically, they are poor and marginalised. The root cause of socio-economic marginalisation can be attributed to alienation of tribal people from their land, territory and resources. The overall situation of the tribal population of West Bengal is not better than the national average, even more deprived than the tribal population of other states. Despite progressive land reform laws and political commitment to implement such laws, issues of tribal land rights have not been addressed adequately. There is no such exclusive study to understand the situation of tribal land rights in the state of West Bengal. This article analyses the status of tribal land rights in the state context and makes some suggestions for improving the situation. It is found that despite distribution of land titles, a large section of the tribal population remains landless. A sizable portion has not received received record-of-rights. Claims of many tribal people for forest patta remain pending or stand rejected. Tribal land alienation continues to be a matter of concern. The state has not taken any concrete steps for the restoration of unlawfully alienated tribal lands. A large section of the tribal sharecroppers in the state remain unrecorded.