Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Are Indigenous Farmers’ Investments Under Siege? Implications of farmer-herder conflicts and threats to customary land tenure on indigenous farmers’ agricultural investment decisions in Agogo, Ghana.

Kugbega, Selorm LU (2018) MIDM19 20181
Department of Human Geography
LUMID International Master programme in applied International Development and Management
Abstract
Owing to structural factors of climate change and population growth, the past decade has witnessed high interest among migrant and settler pastoralist groups in the vegetal-rich customary lands of the Agogo Traditional Area. This has resulted in lease grants of large land areas to pastoralists by traditional authorities and usufruct families, for reasons of ensuring optimum use and gaining the highest returns from lands. This thesis examines the implications of consequent competing interests over land resources between farmers and herders on indigenous farmer’s agricultural investment decisions. The study uses qualitative data methods and empirical evidence is given by primary data from semi-structured interviews and focus group... (More)
Owing to structural factors of climate change and population growth, the past decade has witnessed high interest among migrant and settler pastoralist groups in the vegetal-rich customary lands of the Agogo Traditional Area. This has resulted in lease grants of large land areas to pastoralists by traditional authorities and usufruct families, for reasons of ensuring optimum use and gaining the highest returns from lands. This thesis examines the implications of consequent competing interests over land resources between farmers and herders on indigenous farmer’s agricultural investment decisions. The study uses qualitative data methods and empirical evidence is given by primary data from semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions in the case study area. Results indicated that land owners exploit lapses in customary land administration systems to allocate lands, in exchange for money, to pastoralists while neglecting indigenous farmers’ land use rights. Thus, indigenous farmers report land tenure insecurity and a sense of deprivation from their customary lands. Despite tenure insecurity concerns, farmer’s agricultural investment decisions have not changed much because such changes in investment decisions may reduce incomes and compromise their livelihoods. The findings herein contradict theoretical expectations and provides new perspectives for understanding the relationship between tenure (in)security and investment decisions. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Kugbega, Selorm LU
supervisor
organization
course
MIDM19 20181
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Agogo, Land tenure (in)security, Usufructs, Pastoralists, Farmer-herder conflict, Investment, Customary land, Fulani herders
language
English
id
8951783
date added to LUP
2018-09-03 11:26:09
date last changed
2018-09-03 11:26:09
@misc{8951783,
  abstract     = {{Owing to structural factors of climate change and population growth, the past decade has witnessed high interest among migrant and settler pastoralist groups in the vegetal-rich customary lands of the Agogo Traditional Area. This has resulted in lease grants of large land areas to pastoralists by traditional authorities and usufruct families, for reasons of ensuring optimum use and gaining the highest returns from lands. This thesis examines the implications of consequent competing interests over land resources between farmers and herders on indigenous farmer’s agricultural investment decisions. The study uses qualitative data methods and empirical evidence is given by primary data from semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions in the case study area. Results indicated that land owners exploit lapses in customary land administration systems to allocate lands, in exchange for money, to pastoralists while neglecting indigenous farmers’ land use rights. Thus, indigenous farmers report land tenure insecurity and a sense of deprivation from their customary lands. Despite tenure insecurity concerns, farmer’s agricultural investment decisions have not changed much because such changes in investment decisions may reduce incomes and compromise their livelihoods. The findings herein contradict theoretical expectations and provides new perspectives for understanding the relationship between tenure (in)security and investment decisions.}},
  author       = {{Kugbega, Selorm}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Are Indigenous Farmers’ Investments Under Siege? Implications of farmer-herder conflicts and threats to customary land tenure on indigenous farmers’ agricultural investment decisions in Agogo, Ghana.}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}