Customary Land Tenure in Liberia - Land Tenure and Property ...

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These labor requirements also explain why widows are constrained in farming. Because widows can no longer
rely on their husbands to assemble men‟s kuu to clear the land for farming, they have to either assume men‟s
traditional tasks (reported to be taking place in Upper Workor and Saykleken) or pay men to undertake this
labor. Yet many widows lack adequate financial resources to pay for labor. Sons may help with these tasks,
and may potentially even mobilize kuu on their mothers‟ farms, but young men are increasingly seeking
education or migrating away from their rural communities. Even when sons remain, their first obligation is to
their own wives and families, rather than to their mothers. The lack of access to male labor makes it difficult
for widows to continue to productively farm land in her husband‟s community. Often, a widow may prefer to
return to her natal community where she retains a right to access land through her patrilineal affiliation and
can appeal to her family for labor contributions. Further, in her natal community, a widow is not regarded as
a “stranger.”
Life Trees
For certain clans like Gbanshay, Dobli, Ding, and Ylan, rubber cultivation has become a significant source of
livelihood and cash income, particularly for the youth. In several other clans, there is growing interest in
rubber and some have started planting rubber trees. The expansion of rubber owes to the escalating world
price of rubber and the associated proliferation of rubber buyers and rubber buying stations, especially in
areas that are more accessible. Where there is extensive planting of rubber, the tenure landscape is being
altered as more and more land is converted to a permanent individual or household tenure as a result of life
trees conferring such land rights to the one who plants them. As a result, land is removed from the
communal rights regime where it can be accessed for seasonal cropping and harvesting of natural resources.
It is interesting that in three of the four clans where rubber has taken hold – Gbanshay, Dobli, and Ylan –
one also sees a proliferation of more individualized claims to land, mostly in the form of TCs, but also in
deeds. In places where there is superior access to markets for profitable life tree crops, it would not be
surprising to see increasing demand for more individualized tenure forms. Depending on the reliability and
affordability of externally supplied rice and other produce, the shift to tree cropping could also have
implications for the food security of rural communities as land for seasonal rice farming diminishes.
Statutory Claims
Our research revealed that people have varying perceptions about the authority of the government over their
land. Most communities we consulted regard land as belonging to them, and not to the government. For
example, in Gbanshay, where there has been a scramble to acquire TCs, people were resolute that, “There is
no government land here.” Likewise, in Motor Road, the perception was that the government (namely the
FDA) was encroaching on the land belonging to the Wedjah Chieftaincy. By contrast, in Tengia, several clan
members reported that the land belongs to the government, but that communities are the custodians.
However, when we asked clan members if they felt that the government could take land from them, they
reported that this would not happen without their explicit permission. Government acquisition of and control
over land can manifest itself as a significant source of tenure insecurity, as was witnessed in the case of Ding
and Motor Road.
Several customary tenure systems have been significantly influenced by the introduction of statutory tenure
systems, especially Mana, Dobli, Gbanshay, and Ding – all of which are close or easily accessible to major
urban centers. Mana Clan members have been considerably affected by the introduction of multiple statutory
tenure forms, including deeds, TCs, mining licenses, and concessions. The presence of high value natural
resources in the clan – namely minerals and timber – combined with improved road access have resulted in
rising demand for statutory claims to land both to exploit these resources and to defend them from
competing interests. Yet, most land claims of the core tenure units in Mana, Dobli, and Ding are not backed
by statutory documentation. In Gbanshay, the process of acquiring TCs has resulted in the exclusion of some
family members who otherwise would have had primary rights to that land and the creation of a class that
relies solely on borrowing land.
CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE IN LIBERIA