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To understand the consequences for a farmer within a communal
system of land tenure of only being able to acquire a piece of farmland by
paying rent, we have to enquire into the conditions of tenancy. It may be
useful to stress at the outset that the practice ofleasing land is, as Mensah
Sarbah put it: 'of the greatest antiquity' and 'was in times past more
universal than sale of land which is of comparatively modern growth'
(Sarbah 1897: 66). According to Sarbah, there used to be three standard
forms oftenancies, apart from 'perpetual leases' which commonly applied
to building land only, i.e. (1) share-cropping tenancies, and two types of
'period tenancies', namely (2) sowing tenure, and (3) annual tenure.
Share-cropping tenancies were, and are, most often granted to
those who want to acquire land for planting perennials, such as citrus, palm
oil or cocoa. The usual arrangement in these cases is for the crop to be
divided into three equal parts of which one is either given in kind or its value
paid in money to the landlord by way of retribution. This agreement is the
tenancy-form of the labour-contract, known asabusa, whereby a caretaker
hired to look after a tree-crop farm, more especially a cocoa farm, is
remunerated for his work with one-third of the produce or the proceeds.
Sowing tenure was a period tenancy - according to Mensah Sarbah
'the simplest and most common kind of tenure' (Ibidem: 68)2-whereby
a plot ofland was leased for one sowing season only in return for about onetenth
ofthe crop. In the case of annual tenure the agreement would last until
the tenant was given notice. Under the terms of such long-term leases the
tenant was expected to pay rent in the form oflabour services: during the
sowing and reaping seasons he was obliged to work on the landlord's farm,
usually for three days per week (Sarbah 1897: 69-70).
Using this account of the practice with regard to tenancies in the
second half ofthe 19th century, we shall now consider the forms of tenancy
used at Abura-Dunkwa about a century later. Our data on255 sample farms
show that 21 of the 78 tenancy arrangements, or 270/0, are or are going to
be share-cropping tenancies. 'Are going to be', as in nine cases the abusaterms
have not yet taken effect because the trees have not matured and,
consequently, have not started bearing. All the same, these tenants have
paid an initial fee ranging from as little as (23 plus a bottle of rum to as much
as (2100. (The total for the nine cases paid 'for once' is (2400, or (245 on
average.) In addition, some of the tenants are required to pay a small annual
money rent until the flrst tree-crop can be reaped after about 4-5 years. Both
the initial fee and the yearly rent are payable in connection with the food
crops which, in the meantime, are invariably grown among the young trees.
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