THE CURRENT LAND

ADMINISTRATION REFORMS AND

PRIVATE SECTOR INVESTMENTS IN
THE AGRICULTURE SECTOR
Benjamin Armah Quaye PhD
National Project Coordinator Land Administration Project

STAKEHOLDERS DIALOGUE ON AGRICULTURE INVESTMENT IN GHANA ORGANISED BY HUNGER ALLIANCE OF GHANA

DECEMBER 12, 2017 AT COCONUT GROVE HOTEL, ACCRA
OUTLINE
• AGRICULTURE AND LAND
• THE NATIONAL LAND POLICY
• THE LAND ADMINISTRATION PROGRAMME
• LAND ADMINISTRATION PROJECT INTERVENTIONS
• CUSTOMARY LAND SECTOR
• LAND USE PLANNING
• LEGAL FRAMEWORK
• PARTNERSHIP WITH THE JUDICIARY
• IMPROVEMENT IN LAND REGISTRATION
• PROVISION OF SPATIAL DATA
• CONCLUSIONS
AGRICULTURE AND LAND
• Agriculture is central to Ghana’s economy, employing approximately
50 percent of the population and accounting for approximately 23
percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
• Agriculture has the potential to drive the country’s economic
transformation, improve food security, and reduce poverty.
• However, it still remains largely at the subsistence level and is
dominated by small holder farms,
• A few cases of plantation development exist mainly in areas of tree
crops notably rubber, oil palm, and in a few cases citrus.
• Many state-led plantations that were established after independence have
been either divested to the private sector (the viable ones such as the Ghana
rubber estates) or have been abandoned.
AGRICULTURE AND LAND
• Land is a key determinant of access to economic
opportunities
• Agricultural investments typically require large areas of land.
• The way land rights are defined, households and
entrepreneurs are able to obtain ownership or possession of
it, and land conflicts are resolved through formal and
informal means have far reaching social and economic
effects
• Affects the incentive to invest and to use land in a sustainable
manner or to access financial markets.
NATIONAL LAND POLICY
• Sound land policies are essential for facilitating flows
of private investment into agriculture
• can facilitate growth in agricultural productivity via secure land
tenure.
• Without secure land tenure, investors cannot be sure
of reaping the full benefits of land deals and
investments, nor can local communities receive
protection and full compensation for their land rights
or a fair share of returns from investments on their
land
THE NATIONAL LAND POLICY
• Recognising that land policy is important for poverty reduction,
governance, economic growth, and environmental sustainability the
National Land Policy was launched in June 1999

• Provides broad framework for effective land administration

• Objective: stimulate economic development, reduce poverty and

promote social stability by improving security of land tenure,
simplifying the process for accessing land and making it fair,
transparent and efficient, developing the land market and fostering
prudent land management.
 Identified Land Sector Constraints
• General indiscipline in the land market characterised by
• the spate of land encroachments,
• multiple sales of land,
• unapproved development schemes,
• haphazard development, etc.,
• Indeterminate boundaries of stool/skin lands due to
• lack of reliable maps/plans, and
• the use of unapproved, old or inaccurate maps,
• Compulsory acquisition by government of large tracts of lands
• Delayed payment of compensation.
 Identified Land Sector Constraints
• Conflicts of interests between and within land-owning groups and the state,
• Varied outmoded land disposal procedures.
• Slow disposal of land cases by the courts
• reliance on inadequate and out-dated legislation,
• lack of adequate functional and co-ordinated geographic information
systems and networks,
• poor capacity and capability of the various land delivery agencies.
• Lack of consultation with land owners and chiefs in decision-making
• generating intractable disputes between the state and land owners.
• Lack of consultation, coordination and cooperation among land agencies.
• An important impediment for agricultural
productivity is insecurity of land rights.
• Non-formalisation of tenurial arrangements under
the customary system through written agreements
creates a certain degree of insecurity for tenant
farmers
• indeterminate boundaries,
• lack of documentation of land transactions,
• multiple transfer of land by landlords
• Lack of clarity around land ownership significantly impact
private foreign investors. and land use
• Fragmented land ownership arrangement impacts on the availability
of large tract of land
• Land conflicts creates uncertainty and pose a challenge to agricultural
productivity.
• Land litigation – 50 percent of all new civil cases lodged are land-related.
About 70% of all land cases involved farmers.
• conflicting land uses demand (between agriculture and forestry, between crop
land and pasture, and agriculture and residential in the peri-urban areas).
• Surface mining is believed to pose the greatest threat to both
commercial and subsistence farming in Ghana
 POLICY ACTIONS
• Security of Tenure and Protection of Land Rights
• Speed up registration of land to cover all interests in land throughout
Ghana.
• implement a programme for the production of large scale maps;
• Create a special division of the High Court to deal solely with land
cases
• Facilitating Equitable Access to Land
• Collaborate with the traditional authorities and other land
stakeholders to review, harmonise and streamline customary practices,
usages and legislations
• Establish basic standards by which land delivery agencies must respond
to requests from the public within a reasonable time
POLICY ACTIONS
• Ensuring Planned Land Use
• develop and implement a comprehensive District, Regional and
National Land Use Plan and Atlas,
• Developing Effective Institutional Capacity and Capability
• Restructure, and strengthen LSAs to enhance their capacity.
• Establish and develop LIS and network among related land
agencies
• Implement human development programmes
• Review and consolidate all land legislations into a comprehensive
legal code
THE LAND ADMINISTRATION PROGRAMME
• Conceived as long term reforms (15-25 years) to implement
the key policy actions recommended by the NLP.
• Focused on land administration reforms as against land
tenure reforms
• land tenure reforms directed at re-arranging and re-shaping land
relationships and rights and interests in land.
• land administration reforms aim at injecting effectiveness and
efficiency into the land-based economy by focusing on institutions,
legislation, judicial decisions, records management, titling,
community-based land use planning, monitoring and evaluation,
human resource development, etc.
HIGHER LEVEL OBJECTIVES OF LAP
• The higher level objective of the project is to
contribute to the Ghana Shared Growth Development
Agenda I and II and its Food and Agriculture Sector
Development Policy (FASDEP II) both of which identify
access, use and security of land as a major
development issue, frustrating the country’s
development, which has to be addressed.
 Long Term Objectives of LAP
• To reduce poverty and enhance social and economic growth:
• Improving security of tenure
• Simplifying processes of land acquisition
• Fostering prudent land management practices
• Developing the land market
• Establishing an efficient and sustainable system of land
administration, both state and customary
Based on clear, coherent, and consistent polices and laws
supported by appropriate institutional structures
 Phases of the LAP
• Phase 1 (2004 – 2011)
• To lay the foundation for the establishment of a self-
sustaining land administration system that is fair,
efficient, transparent, cost effective and which
guarantees security of tenure.
• Phase 2 (September 2011 – February 2018)
• To consolidate and strengthen land administration
and management systems for efficient and
transparent land service delivery
LAND ADMINISTRATION PROJECT
INTERVENTIONS
 OVERVIEW OF INTERVENTIONS UNDER LAP

• The Land Administration reforms have so far

focused on:
• Reforming the policy, legal, regulatory and
institutional frameworks,
• Improving customary land administration
• Testing new methods and approaches through
piloting and
• Improving land service delivery
• Capacity development
INTERVENTIONS IN THE
CUSTOMARY SECTOR
Improving customary land governance with the aim of establishing minimum
norms of transparency, respect for land rights, management of land records, and
the provision of land services
ESTABLISHMENT OF CUSTOMARY LAND SECRETARIATS
(CLSs)

• CLSs are the main vehicle to improve customary land

administration.
• Specific Objectives among others are to:
• to improve the quality of records and accessibility of
information on landholdings
• increase transparency and provide greater accountability
in customary land administration
• Improve access to land
• Provide tenure security for both indigenes and migrants
• Eighty-eight (88) CLSs established under LAP
RURAL PARCEL RIGHTS DEMARCATION
• Insecurity of land rights has been a challenge in rural
areas where livelihoods depend on land.
• Typically, land transactions are oral in nature and
boundaries to these lands are identified by huge trees,
rivers and other natural features.
• Often land transactions are often overwhelmed with
disputes.
• RPRD carried out in three key regions-Western, Brong-
Ahafo and Ashanti in five lots to help resolve many
constraints in dealing with land in rural areas.
Specific objectives
• create opportunities for rural farmers to document their land holdings,
• obtain critical land database on actual farm sizes, location, types of
crops cultivated and farm rent payable
• Keep current land records at the CLSs
• Support customary authorities to document verbal grants and support
the formal registration of land documents
• reduce conflicts and protracted litigations,
• promote transparency and accountability in customary land
governance and
• Increase investments in farms, improve productivity and incomes of
farmers to reduce poverty.
CUSTOMARY BOUNDARY
DEMARCATION
• Sought to minimize, and eliminate, where possible,
the sources of protracted land boundary disputes,
conflicts and litigations in order to bring their socio-
economic cost under control for meaningful
development of land resources.
• Total of 105.984 km of undisputed boundary been
demarcated
• excludes an estimated total of 17.039 km identified as
disputed boundary (Bongo Beo and Kongo/Zua).
ASCERTAINMENT OF CUSTOMARY
LAW ON LAND AND FAMILY
• Article 272 of the 1992 Constitution mandates the NHC to: “undertake
the progressive study, interpretation and codification of customary
law” and to evaluate “traditional customs and usages with a view to
eliminating those customs and usages that are outmoded and socially
harmful.”
• Specific Objective
• To ascertain, validate and document customary law on land and family in
eight (8) traditional areas where CLSs have been established.
• Data collection, analysis and validation undertaken at traditional,
regional and national levels
IMPACTS
• Awareness Creation
• Increased awareness of Land Rights and customary law in the pilot areas
• Through the participatory methodology applied in data collection and validation
exercises the ACLP provides voice for the vulnerable land rights holders such as
women
• Important bases to undertake advocacy for vulnerable groups such as women,
landless groups, people with disability and migrants with Traditional authorities
• Generated interest of the private sector and CSOs to assist in demarcating farm
parcels thereby facilitating security of tenure.
• Facilitation of the Recording of Land Rights and Transactions
• Baseline data of customary law on land and family to guide in the recording of
land transactions.
• Provision of disaggregated land transactions
• Provides a linkage to further development of CLSs recording of land interest and
eventually registration of interest in land
IMPACTS
• Conflict Resolution
• Local ADR committees formed as part of the RPRD exercise used to resolve
disputes
• Farms boundary disputes have been resolved during the RPRD
• Although the CBD rekindled latent boundary disputes, there were instances
where the process resulted in the resolution of existing boundaries.
• Revenue Mobilization
• Prepared plans of farm parcels establishes basis for future revenue
collection
• Assures TAs of certainty in the levels of their revenues, tributes, identities of
occupants of their lands,
• Facilitation of Investments
• Improved land acquisition and transactions
REFORMING THE INSTITUTIONAL
FRAMEWORK FOR LAND USE AND
SPATIAL PLANNING
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE THREE TIER MODEL FOR LAND
USE PLANNING

THREE
TIER
MODEL
Formulation of Spatial Development Frameworks
• A National and 2 Regional Spatial
Development Frameworks Prepared
• Provides a strategic vision (desired future)
for spatial development in Ghana over a
twenty (20) year period
• The NSDF serves as the spatial component
of the long term National Development
Plan of the NDPC

• The current government policies on

agriculture in the form of improved seeds
and fertilizers, irrigation development,
extension services, research, mechanisation
and commercialization of agriculture have
been recommended in the NSDF.
REFORMING THE LEGAL
FRAMEWORK
 PASSAGE OF THE LAND USE AND
SPATIAL PLANNING ACT, 2016 (ACT 925)
• Presidential Assent on September 14, 2016
• Brought to an end the Town and Country Planning Ordinance 1945 (CAP
84) as the main piece of legislation for spatial governance
• It establishes the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority
• assigned broad range of responsibilities and cloaked with considerable powers to
exert more influence on land use and spatial planning across the country.
• The Act effectively aligns land use and spatial planning to the
decentralisation system of Ghana
• Vertical integration of planning activities at the local, regional and national levels.
• Legislative Instrument to operationalise Act 925 with A-G’s Dept. for
review to be laid in Parliament
COMPLETION OF THE LAND BILL
• Cabinet has given approval for a new Land Bill to be laid in
Parliament
• The objective of the Bill is to revise and consolidate the laws
on land, with the view to harmonizing these laws to ensure
sustainable land administration and management, effective
land tenure and efficient surveying regimes and to provide for
related matters.
• Provisions on large scale land acquisition
• Approved Land Bill has been submitted to A-G’s Dept. to be
Gazzetted
PARTNERSHIP WITH THE
JUDICIARY
The judiciary is being supported to improve court performance in the adjudication
of land cases.
 ESTABLISHMENT OF LAND COURTS
• To improve the adjudication of land cases
• fifteen (15) Land Courts have been established and
automated.
• Court Connected ADR introduced
• The High Court (Civil Procedure) (Amendments) Rules, 2014
(CI 87) introduced the “Written Witness Statement” for
adjudicating civil cases in the superior and lower courts to
address procedural shortcomings, which delayed processing of
cases.
• Training conducted for Judges, the Bar, Court Staff and
Mediators (Land Case Management, Map Reading, ADR etc.)
IMPACTS…
• Refurbishments of the courts provides a congenial environment for clients,
judges, lawyers and other staff
• The introduction of the Direct Transcription System (DTS) has improved efficiency –
court proceedings are readily available after each court sitting to facilitate further
court processes.
• Enhances efficient administration of land cases
• The introduction of the Written Witness Statement has reformed the entire
civil redress mechanisms within the Judiciary.
• Expedite efficiency in case disposal and allows for the application of effective
courtroom management.
• Reduction in the turnaround time for adjudication of land cases from between 1-3
years to an average of 10 months
• Led to an increase in revenue for the Judicial Service as all evidence filed as documents
at the Courts are charged according to the statutory regulations on Court Fees and
Fines
IMPROVING LAND REGISTRATION
SYSTEM
• Land registration had been brought closer to the
people and thereby facilitate the easy registration
of lands.
• Further decentralisation ongoing
• Establishment of Client Service Access Units
• Automation of the land service delivery process
• Implementation of the Ghana Enterprise Land
Information System (GELIS)
 PROVISION OF SPATIAL DATA
• The country lacks up-to-date maps to support critical land
administration operations
• Leads to poor definition of land boundaries, - a significant factor in the large
and growing number of land disputes
• Approximately 17,000 sq. km of Northern Sector and 12,000 sq. km of
Southern Sector completed.
• The approved hardcopy line maps and orthophotos distributed to the
respective Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to
facilitate land use planning at the district level.
• Lidar images produced for the Nasia- Nabogo Valley used in the assessment of
the terrain and the modeling for the construction of dams for large scale
agricultural under the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP)
• Orthophoto maps in the development of the National and Regional Spatial
Development Frameworks
CONCLUSIONS
• Land Administration reforms presents considerable challenges
to all stakeholders – government, land owners, land users,
environmentalists, civil society, traditional authorities, local
authorities, Development Partners etc.
• It takes time to achieve consensus on several issues and to
move forward.
• The Ghana Land Administration Programme represents a bold
initiative at tackling the myriad of problems associated with
land administration in the country and contribute to investment
in agriculture
CONCLUSIONS
• Considerable progress have been made in several areas,
whilst some challenges have been encountered in other
areas
• However, the transformation agenda of the land
administration system MUST be pursued to its logical
conclusion.
THANK YOU