ghana climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessment

ProblemTable 4.2 Problems Associated with Customary Land TenureWesternRegionn=554NorthernRegionn=229Upper EastRegionn=299Upper WestRegionn=383Countryof Ghanan=3232High price of land 41.3% 55.9% 38.1% 38.6% 48.1%Disputes between tenants/users andland owners17.8 4.8% 28.1% 13.1% 17.5%Insecurity of tenure 20.1 14.8% 22.7% 18.5% 14.4%Uncertainty about ownership of land 10.8 19.2% 7.4% 6.3% 10.7%Sale of land without owners approval 1.1% 0.9% 1.7% 2.1% 1.8%Disputes over family land 5.6% 3.1% 1.3% 12.5% 4.8%Land is scarce 2.2% 0.4% 0.7% 6.0% 1.6%Land taxes are too high 0.2% 0% 0% 2.1% 0.5%Land is taken from you if you don’tbuild on it0.5% 0% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2%Not enough funds to farm with 0.4% 0% 0% 0.3% 0.2%Only administered by chief andTendana0% 0.4% 0% 0.3% 0.1%Tribalism 0% 0.4% 0% 0% 0.1%Death 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%Source: ISSER, dataThe most prominent issue facing respondents to the survey, from all four regions, was the high cost of land.The literature suggests that land prices have been inflated through the cultivation of cash crops (particularly inthe Western Region, where cocoa farming has become lucrative) as well as processes like urbanization andcommercialization. The result is that a greater variety of land users are now applying to headsmen for landrights, some of whom can afford to pay much more in exchange for a lease. Many headsmen simply leaserights to the highest bidder. In the South, this tends to mean that more land is put towards cocoa production(as opposed to subsistence use). Another implication of high land prices is that sharecropping arrangementstend to be less generous to the farmer, providing more benefit to the landowner (Kasanga & Kotey 2001,Otsuka et. nd). In the North, where cash crops do not grow as well, headsmen are granting more and moreof the communal lands under their control towards commercial or urban residential uses, often at the expenseof the greater community that depends on the land for farming. “There is fierce competition for even thelowest hierarchy of chieftaincy […] with the main motivation of [acquiring land to sell]” (Yaro and Zackaria2006). Not all headsmen lease land for personal profit. But in many villages, anger arising from misdealings(the headsman collects fees from multiple users for the same plot of land, or demands increasingly highpayments in exchange for a lease) has erupted into violence.Following high land prices, the next set of problems facing respondents was the undocumented nature oftheir usufructory rights, and the lack of transparency surrounding tenure agreements. This confusion hasresulted in frequent disputes over who has rights over what plot of land, often leading to conflict. “Thecurrent turbulence in land tenure arrangements in Ghana is reflected in the countless inter-tribal conflicts,inter-village conflicts, inter-household conflicts and contra-household confrontations over land ownership,use, and transfers. Problems of land tenure insecurity and the resulting conflicts do not only result in manifestloss of life and property, but also covertly form the basis of underdevelopment of productive forces in anysociety.” (Yaro & Zackaria 2006).The insecure nature of tenure does not just create conflict at the community level; it also creates a host ofeconomic problems for Ghana. Undefined and undocumented agreements make it difficult to legally upholdtenure rights ownership in a court of law. Without established rights it is virtually impossible to obtain a lineGHANA CLIMATE CHANGE VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION ASSESSMENT 49