LAND TENURE SYSTEM IN NIGERIA (A STUDY OF IKEDURU L.G.A AREA OF IMO STATE)(A CASE STUDY OF OWERRI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL)

Land Tenure System

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 

1.1   Background of the study

 

Land is central in promoting rural livelihood in Africa because access to land, gender and security of tenure are the main means through which food security can be realized. One of the basic problems that women face in Africa is inequality with men (Mintzer, 2010). Women play a vital role in providing food and nutrition for their families through their roles as food producers, processors, traders and income earners. Food and Agriculture Organisation records show that women produce between 60 and 80 percent of the food  in most Sub-Saharan African countries and are responsible for half of the world’s food production (FAO,1998).Yet women’s lower social and economic status limit their access to education, training, land ownership, decision making and credit. This results to their inability to improve their access to and use of land. For women growers, this hindrance is compounded by a comparative lack of assets and arable land, and in some cases lack of the right to own the very land they till.

 

There has been a great disparity between women and men in the size of landholdings (Quisumbling, 1994). Given that land plays an important role in the livelihood of the majority of Africans, food security and poverty reduction cannot be achieved unless issues of access to land, security of tenure and the capacity to use land productively in sustainable manner are addressed (ECA, 2004). Land tenure is the relationship, whether legally or customarily defined, among people,asindividualsorgroups, with respect to land. Rule soft enuredefinehowpropertyrightsin land are to be distributed within societies, along with associated responsibilities and restraints. In simpleterms,landtenuresystemsdeterminewhocanusewhatresources,for how long, and under what conditions. This is because land owners dictate what to produce, how much and in what season and also control the use of benefits (Asiinmwe and Nyakojo, 2000). Access to land is governedthroughlandtenuresystems.Gender, access to land and landtenurerelationsarecritical

 

where communities depend on the land resources available to the household or community, and their ability to mobilize resources for the production and / or distribution of food to achieve an activeandhealthylife.Inthelastthreedecades,thelandtenuresystemshavebeenconfrontedwith problemsoffastpopulationgrowth.Competingeconomicusesofagriculturallandhaveresultedin reduced land:man ratio, reduced fallow periods and the intensification of land-use (FGN , 2004; Adesina , 1998; Awe1997).

 

Socio-economic and political obstacles have for long been intensifying gender inequality and exacerbating poverty among women (Rahman and Haruna, 1999). These indicators favour the menfolk thus justifying current government efforts to empower women and enhance their productivity. Such government efforts include the introduction of such programmes as Women in Agriculture (WIA), Better Life for Rural Women (BLP), Family Support Programmes (FSP), Gender and development programmes and a host of others. Furthermore, the overall feature of Nigerianwomenisessentiallythatofmarginalization,whichisbestexplainedwithinthecontextof productive relations (Ekwachi, 1990). This has affected agricultural productivity negatively. Gender based inequalities all along the food production chain from farm to plate impede the attainment of food and nutritional security (FAO, 2009). Worldwide, women own less than two percent of all property. In many countries, less than 10 percent of women hold title to their land whichlimitstheiraccesstoresourcesandcreditduringcrisis.However,accesstolandisasinequa non to agriculturaldevelopment.

 

Ononeside,womenproduceandprocessfoodandusediversecopingstrategiesforensuringfood securityfortheirhouseholds.Ontheotherside,womenhavemoredifficultiesthanmeningaining access to resources such as land, credit and productivity-enhancing inputs and service. Food insecurity in Africa is a massive and multifaceted problem that experts have been trying to solve for years. One common theme that has emerged in the dialogue about African hunger is the role womencanplayinincreasingfoodsecurity.WomeninAfricaoftenhavetroublegainingaccessto

 

credit,legalrightstoownland,andknowledgeaboutfarmingtechniquesandinnovationsthatlimit their ability to make profit from agriculture.

 

Food security is of supreme importance in improving nutritional status of millions of people who suffer from persistent hunger and malnutrition. Food security is defined as access by all people at all times to sufficient and enough food for an active, healthy and productive life (World Bank, 1986;KennedyandHaddad,1992;Haddad,1997).Itisthecapacityofhouseholds,communityand the state to mobilize sufficient food through production, acquisition and distribution on a sustainablebasis.FoodsecurityisafundamentalobjectiveofNigeria’sagriculturalpolicy(Chung et.al., 1997; Smith and Haddad, 2000; Pinstrup-Andersen, 2001; Smith et.al., 2006). Nevertheless,ithasnotbeengiventheadequateattentionnecessarytoachievethisobjective.Food security incorporates questions of production, storage and supply as well as access to supply (HindmarshandTrotter,1990).Itentailsnotonlyfoodavailabilitythroughdomesticconsumption, storage and / or trade, but also, and perhaps more importantly, food access through home production,purchaseinthemarket,orfoodtransfer(Abalu,1991).Foodinsecurityhoweveristhe condition in which a household is unable to meet its target consumption level (Nurudeen, 2009). Food insecurity occurs if demand outweighs the supply of food (Braun, 1992). The gap between demandforfoodreducestheaccessofpeopletoadequatenutrientsforhealth,andactivelife.The impactoffoodinsecurityisbestappreciatedfromthehouseholdstructurewhererealdecisionsare madeonfoodconsumption(Ukoha,1997;Chaudbury,2009;Alagbaet.al.,2009).

Toaddressthisconcernaboutaccesstolandandglobalfoodsecurity,severalHeadsofStatesand Governments, international and regional organizations called for urgent action (Anon, 2009). In response to this call, a number of initiatives have emerged or are emerging to address this important challenge in Nigeria (Remans et.al., 2009). Such initiatives according to Abo (2003) includetheLandUseActof1978,NationalAcceleratedFoodproductionProgramme(1974),River Basins Development Authorities (1975), Operation Feed the Nation(1976), Green revolution (1979),IntegratedRuralDevelopmentProjects(1980),AgriculturalDevelopment

 

Programme(ADP) (1985), Back to land Project and National Directorate of Foods, Roads and RuralInfrastructure(1988),NationalAgriculturalResearchProjects-WorldBankAssisted(1991), National Agricultural support Programme (1992), National Fadama Development project (1994), National Agricultural Land Development Authorities(1995), National Programme on Food Security(1999), and the presidential initiative on rice, cassava, sugar, soybeans, vegetables, livestock etc for production, processing and export (2002) and a host of other programmes have beendesigned.

 

Gender and food insecurity issues have become more serious than ever in the face of dwindling landsuppliestotheextentthataboutfour(4)yearstothetargetdateofthemillenniumdevelopment goal;hunger,povertyandhouseholdfoodinsecurityisstillprevalent.Itbecomesimperativetore- examinethelandtenuresystemsinAbiastate,toseehowgenderaffectsaccesstolandandhowit ultimately impacts on food security especially in terms of cassava production. The study is in line withthepresident’sinitiativetoendhungerinNigeriabyfocusingonthefirstandfourthgoalsof theMDGwhichinclude:cuttinghungerandpovertyinhalfby2015andpromotinggenderequity. Forthepurposeofthiswork,genderwaslimitedonlytoadultmalesandfemalesabove18whoare engaged in cassava-based production enterprise. In Abia State, cassava is found to be a major staplefoodcropandrankssecondtomaizeincontributiontoenergycalorificvaluehencecassava was used to determine household food security in the frame of the present study. Cassava crop enterprise was considered as a subset of other staple food components that make up the requirements of food security at the household level. Other staple food crop components werenot considered as it was difficult to get farming households who grow tuber, cereal and leguminous crops simultaneously. Secondly, owing to the role of cassava in the African feeding pattern, it is oftenreferredtoasthe“hungercrop”(WorldBank,1993b)hence,cassavaisafoodsecuritycrop (Clair et.al., 2000). This study examined the capacity of male and female headed household membersinensuringfoodsecurityatthehouseholdlevel.Inthisstudy,foodsecurityincludesthe abilitytoproducefoodbyearningincomefromcassava-basedproduction.Thelandtenure

 

systemswerelimitedtotheindividualandthecommunallandtenuresystemsastheyarethemost predominant tenure systems in the studyarea.

1.2             Statement of the problem

 

There is a great disparity between women and men in the size of landholdings (Quisumbling, 1994). This emanates from the fact that land rights of different gender under customary systems varyfromplacetoplace.Inmostcases,rightstoarablelandareallocatedbythelineageauthority to the male headed household, women have secondary derived rights, obtained through their relationship with male family members (husbands, fathers, brothers or sons). Under many customarysystems,women’sinheritancerightsarelimited;notonlywithinpatrilinealsystemsbut alsowithinmatrilinealsystems,landcontrolusuallyrestswithmalefamilymembers.Thisdoesnot guaranteesecurityoftenurewhichisoneofthemostseriousobstaclestoincreasingtheagricultural productivity and income of rural women (FAO, 2005). If tenure is secure, the holder can reasonably expect to use the land to its best advantage in accordance with the right. He will also reap a timely and fair return as well as the ability to enforce the right against non-holders. A woman’s land rights are secure when she can use or manage land in a predictable fashion for a defined length of time. But in most cases, unlike men, women cannot liquidate, trade, or retain derived land rights when the male link islost.

 

 

With population pressures, agricultural intensification and commercialization, many customary systems have evolved towards greater individualization and eroding of women’s secondary right (Lastaria-Cornheil, 1997). Continued access to land depends on a woman’s fulfilling link or negotiatingaconstantlychangingsetofobligationsandexpectationsdefinedbythemenwhohold the rights (IFPRI, 2000). Even with increase in the number of female headed households on the deathoftheirhusbandsandonmigrationofmentourbanareasinsearchofhigherwages,women do not acquire the actual status of household head which would afford them access to resources suchaslandneededforfoodsecurity(UNDP,1996;Pinstrup-Andersonand

 

Pandya-Lorch, 1998). Unfortunately, female-headed households are getting poorer in Nigeriaand other African Countries, although women play a key role in food and agriculture (Saito and Daphne, 1993; UNDP, 1996). These food production potentials of women have been limited to a large extent by the restriction of women from having access to land. Regrettably, women’s lower social and economic status limits their access to education, training, land ownership, decision makingandcreditandconsequentlytheirabilitytoimprovetheiraccesstoanduseofland.Thisis due to the fact that with no land title, collateral, it is difficult for them to obtain credit and this affectstheirfoodsecuritystatus(Lakeret.al.,2001).Withoutcreditalso,theirincomewillbelow resulting in low output (Henri-Ukoha et.al., 2011). Meanwhile, access to land through land ownership is a sine qua-non for improving agriculturalproductivity.

 

 

This inequality in access to land affects women who produce, purchase and process food thereby limiting their potential to generate food production. Regrettably, Kunze and Drafor (2005) observed that the bulk of the female managed farms are less than 2.5 acres while male managed farmsarebetween2.5and5acres.Giventhatlandplaysanimportantroleinthelivelihoodofthe majority of Africans, food security and poverty reduction cannot be achieved unless issues of access to land, security of tenure and the capacity to use land productively and in a sustainable mannerareaddressed(ECA,2004).Toaddressthisconcernaboutgender,accesstolandandfood security,severalHeadsofStatesandGovernments,internationalandregionalorganizationscalled for urgent action (Anon, 2009). Past agricultural strategies have been less successful because the issueoflandamongsmallholderfarmerswasignored(Chirwa,2004).Inanefforttocombatthreats of famine and pervasive poverty thereby ensuring food security for its populace, the government resortedtolandreformpolicytoensurethateveryNigerianhasaccesstolandforagriculture.The LandUsedecreethatwaspromulgatedinthe1978constitutionmadeundertheregimeofpresident Olusegun Obasanjo is also one of the policies to ensure that land is made available to every Nigerian.OthereffortsmadebygovernmentincludeWomeninAgriculture(WIA),Genderand

Development (GD).

 

Withthesepoliciesinplace,thereoughttobeanimprovementinthelevelofaccessbywomento land and increased level of food security. Regrettably, the impacts of these policies have been overshadowedastherearestillmillionsofpeoplewhoexperiencehungerinthecountry(Asinobi, 2000).Thisdevelopmenthasundesirableeffectsonfoodsecurityespeciallytotheattainmentofthe millennium Development Goals. The number of people lacking access to minimum diet has risen from 824million in the baseline year of 1990 to 1,020million, despite the political commitment to reduce world hunger (FAO, 2009). Africa is not left out as The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that almost 200 million Africans were undernourished at the dawn of the millennium, compared with 133 million 20 years earlier (FAO, 2002). Also, in Africa, millions hover near starvation in a world ofplenty.

 

 

Nigeria is not free from this situation as Abalu (1990) observed that as at 1986, about 14 million or 16% of the Nigeria population were food insecure with majority being small scale farming households.Thismeansthatthesepeoplewereeitherunabletoconsumeenoughfoodtoallowfor active working life and/or attain energy from their diets to prevent serious health risks or stunted growth.However,thishasincreasedovertheyears.CBN(1991)reportedthetotalareacultivated for food crops in Nigeria fell from 19, 394, 500 ha (representing about 26.4% of total cultivated land) in 1970 to as low as 15, 862, 800 ha (about 21.6% of the total cultivated land) in 1990. Moreover, Nigeria is among the countries in Sub-Sahara Africa experiencing significant food shortages as over 40% of households across all agro-ecological zones in the country face the problem of severe food insecurity ((Idachaba, 2004; Mariya-dixton et.al., 2004). There is a wide gap between domestic food supply and food demand (Ajibefun, 2003). The growth rate of agricultural production appear impressive with an annual average of 4-5% since 1986 (FGN, 1997), yet the demand by households on food resources has not been met (FGN, 1997). The inability of the state to meet the food needs of her teeming population has made her to resort to massive importation from the Northern states ofNigeria.

 

Consequentupontheseproblems,theFoodandAgriculturalOrganisation(2002)enlistedNigeria among countries faced with serious food insecurity problems. The vision of Nigeria to have physical and economic access to food on a continuous basis has therefore continued to remain a mirage.Therestillexistsyawninggapasthereisstillhighlevelofhungerandpovertyinthestudy area which if left unaddressed will lead to foodcrisis.

 

 

The determinants of household food security have also been widely researched by Kunze and Drafor(2005);Haddad,KennedyandSullivan(1994);Ohajianyaet.al.,(2011).Otherstudieshave shownthatdomesticfoodproductioninfluencesfoodsecurity(FAO,2001;Braun,1992).Noneof thesestudieshasascertainedthefoodsecuritylevelofcassavafarminghouseholdsbygenderunder thepeculiarprevailinglandtenuresystemsinAbiastatetherebyleavinganinformationgapwhich this study intends tofill.

Thequestionis,towhatextenthavelandtenure,andgenderaffectedfoodsecurityamongcassava- based farming households in AbiaState.

Arising from these issues raised above, the following research questions emanate , the resolution on how to close this gap forms the broad objective of this study.

To what extent has land tenure, gender and food security affected cassava based farming households in Abia State?.

1. What are the socio-economic features of cassava farminghouseholds?.

 

1. What are the types of access to landholding and land usepattern?.

 

• Whatquantitiesofcassavatubersaredemandedandsuppliedbythehouseholds?

 

1. What is the net income of cassava-basedfarmers?.

 

1. Whatfactorsaffectthenetincomeofcassava-basedfarmersin the area?.

 

1. What is the level of food security in the study area?.

 

• What factors affect the level of food security in the area?.

 

• What factors affect access to land in the study area?.

 

1. What problems militate against the cassava-based farmers in the area.

 

1.3       Objectives of the study

 

The broad objective of the study is to analyze land tenure, gender and food security among cassava-basedfarmersinAbiaState,withaviewtoovercomingproductionchallengesandaccess to affordable food thus ensuring foodsecurity.

The specific objectives are to:

 

1. analysethesocio-economicfeaturesofcassava-basedfarminghouseholdsby gender in selected land tenure systems in thearea,
2. assessthelandtenuresystems,typeoflandholdingaccessandlanduse patternsbygenderinselectedlandtenuresystemsinthestudyarea,

• determinethequantitiesofcassavatubersdemandedandsuppliedbygenderin selected land tenure systems in thearea,

1. determinethenetfarmincomeofcassava-basedfarmersbygenderinselected land tenure systems in the area,
2. determinethefactorsaffectingthenetfarmincomeofcassava-based farmers by gender in selected land tenure systems in the area,
3. assesstheleveloffoodsecurity/insecurity by gender in selected land tenure system,

• determine the factors affecting the level of food security/insecurity by gender in selected land tenure system,
• determine the factors affecting access to land holding by gender in cassava production under selected land tenure systems,and

1. identify the problems encountered by the farming households by gender in selectedlandtenuresystemsthataremilitatingagainstfoodsecurityusing cassava production as proxy in the area, with a view to proffering policy recommendations to ensuring food security.

 

1.4             Hypotheses of the study

 

The following hypotheses were tested.

 

1. Landholdingaccessbygenderinselectedlandtenuresystemsisnotpositiveandsignificantly relatedtoincome,assetsize,farmingexperience,membershipofco-operativesociety,levelof educationandhouseholds’saccesstocreditfacilities,aswellasnotnegativeandsignificantly relatedtoage,landprices,transactioncostsandlocationoffarmlandinthestudyarea.
2. There is no significant difference between net income of cassava-based farmers by gender in selected land tenure systems in thearea.
3. Net income of cassava-based farming households by gender in selected land tenure systemsis notpositiveandsignificantlyrelatedtoage,farmingexperience,levelofeducation,household size,maritalstatus,cassavaproductionasprimaryoccupation/enterprise,membershipdensity, accesstofarmlandandaccesstocredit,aswellasnotnegativeandsignificantlyrelatedtocost of farming inputs in the studyarea.
4. The level of food security by gender in cassava production in selected land tenure systems is not positive and significantly related to farm income, farm size, farming experience, membership of co-operative society, level of education, access to credit, household head’s access to extension farming experience, extent of produce sales and labour use as well as, not negativeandsignificantlyrelatedtoageandhousehold’sproductionenterpriseetc.

 

1.5             Significance of thestudy

 

Paststudiesusedinsufficientvariablesbutthisstudytriestoexploremoreavenuestocontributeto the body of knowledge on the determination of the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers. Thiswillhelptoidentifytherelevantfeaturesofthefarmerswhichwillboostfoodsecuritygiven the land tenuresystems.

Thestudyisthereforeanavenuetocontributetothebodyofknowledgebyformulatingmodelsof levelsecurity,netfarmincomeandlandholdingaccessbygenderinselectedlandtenuresystemin the studyarea.

 

The study will identify location specific factors that contribute to household food insecurity, and through that make recommendations to improve the effectiveness of interventions.

 

Studies like this will enable farmers to always be on the lookout for ways to optimise income generation through cassava production such that food security will be enhanced.

 

The study identified constraints or limitations associated with a given land tenure system by the different gender and ways to ameliorate it.

 

Studieslikethisbringsarayofhopetothefarmersasitwillenablethemidentifythosefactorsthat affect net income, land holding access and food security in selected land tenure systems. A knowledge of these factors will enable them focus on those relevant variables so that their productivity will beenhanced.

 

The study provides strategic information for the government, concerned agencies and other stakeholders to design programs and projects that would contribute significantly to the achievement of objectives of gender equity, poverty elimination, ending hunger and ultimately enhance foodsecurity.

To policy makers, it serves as a guide to enacting policies that will modify the existing land policies and adjusting existing ones such that land rights will be accorded to both gender for food security to beattained.

 

1.6             Scope of thestudy

 

ThestudyfocusedonhouseholdsinAbiaState,itiswithinaparticularecologicalzone.Theresults obtained may vary within a wider ecological zone due to differences in socio-cultural practices, farmingsystems,weather,pestsanddiseaseswhichaffectfarmers’valuesandproductionutilities. Only patrilineal and matrilineal systems of lineage as well as individual and communal tenure systems wereconsidered.

 

Onlycassava/maize/meloncropmixturewasconsideredasitwasdifficulttogetfarmerswhogrow crops belonging to all the food componentssimultaneously.

 

The study was based on the fact that ADP contact farmers who are the respondents use improved cassava varieties. However, the different cassava varieties and their potentials towards achieving food security were not considered.

LAND TENURE SYSTEM IN NIGERIA (A STUDY OF IKEDURU L.G.A AREA OF IMO STATE)(A CASE STUDY OF OWERRI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

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