New Land Policy Introduced By Isser

The Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has developed a Land Tenure Reform Policy that aims at guiding the land markets and the individuals on the usage of land and the need to invest in it.

The policy disclosed how investment in land could help develop the various communities and the nation by way of improving upon its productivity and ensuring its proper and efficient usage.

The Policy explained further the imposition of the English Common Law on customary practices that had been problematic, without the appropriate accommodation of the underlying social and economic systems.

However, it suggested that the 1999 National Land Policy could be given the objective of efficient and equitable land tenure arrangements, using operational partnerships with local authorities, the business community and civil society, which will enhance transparency and accountability of the indigenous management institutions and make their land delivery system more effective.

At a two-day International Conference in Accra, the Director of ISSER, Professor Ernest Aryetey, noted that the Land Reform Policy was important to all since it would help to harmonise individuals and communal interests for mutual gains.

He explained that faster economic growth, which could lead to faster poverty reduction, required investment and productivity improvement.

According to him, enhancing technologies for agriculture have been hampered by insecurity of tenure for both small and large-scale land users, with more than a half of non-allodial titleholders worried about security.

Although many of the traditional methods for gaining access to land as noted by the director are changing as a result of the growing interactions with markets, it still does not offer any more security as the change is uncoordinated, leading to conflicts.

He said that there was general indiscipline in the allocation and development of land, environmental degradation and poor institutional capacity in both traditional and state sectors.

The director noted that Ghanaian land markets faced the difficulty in matching demand and supply, and insecurity of tenure and pricing.

He stated that the reform would bring willing buyers and sellers together with reduced transaction cost by carefully recognising the socio-cultural underlay.

Many households, he said, in both the rural and urban parts of the country have a fair access to land but very little security, making larger businesses unable to acquire the needed plot sizes.

Professor Aryetey called for the establishment of Land Banks that would provide a uniform platform for trading current interests across different persons and groups without affecting future access rights for entitled persons and groups.

He said that land banks could lead to higher incomes for land owners with no capital, enhance access to land by large investors and mediate between different interests without threatening earlier rights.

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