Land matters: Small farmer, large farmer, land grabber

Public event organised by the Overseas Development Institute
21 September, 17.30 - 19.00

Land policy in Africa has long been keenly debated. Do customary forms of tenure offer security and thereby allow farmers to invest and innovate? Programmes to register formally land rights and allocate freehold titles have often been proposed; but they may be unnecessary, and furthermore may lead to those with secondary, temporary and precarious rights to land losing access completely.

Are small or large farms more efficient, and should one or other scale be promoted?

These debates have added urgency since the food price spike that led some food importing countries with resources to look to acquire land in Africa on which to grow their food, prompting fears of a large-scale land grab.

What is needed, then, to make good use of the land, while protecting the rights of poor and marginalised people?  

Speakers:

Mandivamba Rukuni - Founder and Executive Director, Wisdom Africa Leadership Academy
Philip Woodhouse - Senior Lecturer, School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester

Register online at ODI