On Friday April 24th an organisation called Inades-Formation/BURKINA held a seminar on land rights, as a prelude to its Convention. Considering that Parliament is about to adopt legislation on rural land tenure rights, this was clearly a relevant theme. As experts and representatives of farmers’ organisation took part, the event turned out to be a very interesting one.

Obviously the agrarian reform adopted in 1984 ( amended in 1991 and 1996), which lays down i.e. that the land is the property of the State, has its limitations.

A farmer who lives in the Mouhoun valley, where the river makes a sharp bend to the south, made us understand this very clearly. In the area of Badala (between the towns of Nouna and Dédougou ) for example, farmers have been told that the State is the owner of the land. And that the government would come and take it away from them without compensation as the rightful owner. Later a number of wealthy customers turned up and told them: “Sell the land to us, before the government people get here and take it away for nothing.” Thus 4000 hectares (1 hectare = 2.47 acres), mainly along the banks of the river, have already been sold. This operation benefited two government ministers and two members of Parliament, among others. The farmers’ sons are left landless !

Of course, this land was there well before the agrarian reform and even before colonial times. “However, according to ancient tribal beliefs, the land belongs to God, who has granted free access to it for the ancestral founders of human families and all their descendants. The land therefore belongs to all human beings. It is for everybody. Which is perfectly in tune with the Gospel and the Pastoral of the Earth” (Pastoral of the Earth, recalled by the Reverend Joseph Mukassa Somé during the seminar).

As long as there was abundant supply of land, common law covered the need for rules. Even a foreigner could be granted the right to farm on village land, considered to be the property of one of its large families .

Let us look at an example. Mr Zantigui Drabo and his family decided to settle for family reasons in the town of Sapouy, in the county of Ziro. Mr Zantigui, sponsored by a local inhabitant, asked for a plot of land not just to build his home on, but also to farm for the subsistence of the family. The landowners asked him to contribute one goat, one rooster, two hens, some tobacco and some local dolo beer, as well as some other gifts, that may vary according to the status of the candidate.” (L’HEBDOMADAIRE N° 358 February 24 to March 2).

Numerous other examples could be found. In each case it appears that the “access to land is conditioned by the sponsorship of a third party and the offering of gifts. The migrant ,who is admitted and given the right to farm, has rights with certain limitations. He is not allowed to plant a tree or transfer land to someone else without the prior consent of the initial landowners. “ (L’HEBDOMADAIRE N° 358)

But at present, when Burkina Faso has a population of 15 million, the shortcomings of the ancestral tradition can also be seen. It more and more often happens that, at the death of the head of a family, the children find that they do not have enough land. They therefore seek out a person to whom their father had previously granted access and ask to have the land back. Even if the tenant has been farming it for over 30 years!

The Government on the other hand tends to encourage investments in agriculture. “The Prime Minister has kept repeating all along the rainy season: “land must be granted to those who have the capacity to farm it”. In other words, the land in Burkina should be at the disposal of those who have the means to valorise it. This category now includes new landowners, such as government officials and businessmen.” (Aziz Vincent Legma in The Independent n° 806 of February 17 2009, quoted by Pr Fernand SANOU during the seminar.)

Land disputes are becoming increasingly frequent and violent.

Members of Parliament, who will soon be called upon to give their opinion on the draft bill on land tenure rights in rural areas have a heavy responsibility. Before going to the vote, they would be well advised to read and reread the document on “National Policy on Land Tenure Rights in Rural Areas - Politique Nationale sur la Sécurisation Foncière en Milieu Rural, which can be downloaded, in French, from PNSFMR. The document, dated August 2007, was introduced by Mr Jean-Marie Wattara during the seminar.

It is drafted jointly and is the result of submissions from various quarters. It appears well balanced and inclusive. Many contributions from rural people have been taken into account. But many questions also remain. For a start: Who knows about this national policy? Certainly not the ruling village chiefs !

Rural communities play a central part in the implementation of the policy. But they are still fragile. They have to face all sorts of difficulties to ensure their own development. A new bill is going to be voted, before anyone has even started putting the new PNSFMR policy into practice. Will it facilitate the work of the rural communities?

Will the new Act give a clear vision of the entire rural world? Will the farmers, in in Ziro and Sissili in particular, feel that they are protected from the present assault on their farmland? Will the new legislation have enough clout to restrict the amount of land that a private investor is allowed to buy? To 50 hectares?

Finally, will the new Act be enforced? And how? For the benefit of all parties concerned and for social peace? It surely seems urgent to put in place a number of monitoring “antennas” (by civil society organisations), so that no one can circumvent the law and take hold of land for his/her own personal profit to the detriment of others.

Koudouou April 26^th 2009

Maurice Oudet

Director, SEDELAN