Community-based natural resource management - International ...

Preventing land conflicts
Land-tenure conflicts in Madagascar may increase as population
grows, land becomes scarce and communal lands are mismanaged.
This growing crisis is exacerbated by a weak land administration
system and lack of secure tenure. The Government sees these
conflicts as a barrier to sustainable investment by rural producers
and agribusiness development, as well as undermining the state’s
credibility. Through various programme loans and grants, IFAD is
working with the Government of Madagascar to improve the situation
through a process of ‘learning by doing’.
Madagascar’s economy is predominantly rural, and agriculture is the main engine of
economic growth. Rice, the most important crop, provides food and income for some
10 million people. Almost 80 per cent of the population lives in rural areas, and most
farmers are owner-cultivators with average landholdings under 1.2 hectares. Rapid
population growth has led to land shortages, particularly in the highland region, where
common-use forest and hillside resources are under increasing pressure and often are
not managed sustainably. Similar pressures are evident in the arid western region,
where much of the rice is grown in wetlands. Over the past 20 years, this has led to
low and declining agricultural productivity, increasing rural poverty, environmental
degradation and a stagnating economy.
At the root of these problems is a weak land-tenure system and an obsolete legal
framework. These act as disincentives to investment in rural areas and have led to a
growing number of conflicts over land ownership and land-use rights. This is
particularly the case in hillside and forest areas where little has been done to stop the
mismanagement of communal resources. The current system stems from the
country’s rich history of human settlement and is a mix of land-tenure arrangements –
from traditional systems of community ownership to modern legislative procedures
governing the ownership of private lands.
Madagascar
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