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This chapter appraised customary tenancy and Post COVID-19 agricultural development in Nigeria. In doing this, it discussed customary tenancy as an incident of customary tenure and the impact of Land Use Act 1978 in its evolutionary trend as a sustainable means of accessing land for long term agricultural business in Nigeria. The study made use of socio-legal research methodology involving doctrinal research method and an analysis of social context for information gathering. The primary source of law included the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as altered); the Land Use Act 1978 and related statutes as well as judicial precedents. The secondary sources included books, journal articles, conference proceedings, magazines, newspapers and the internet. The outcome of the study indicated that customary tenancy was a recognized method of accessing land for agriculture on long term basis among many ethnic groups in Nigeria, including but are not limited to Yoruba of Southwest and the Igbo of Southwest, Nigeria. That the method was predominantly used for agricultural purposes, and in agricultural communities. Third, that the Land Use Act 1978 did not stop the customary land practice, but rather recognized and encouraged its use through customary right of occupancy. Fourth, customary tenancy was found to have promoted access to land resources and reduction of tension and bitter acrimonies which could have been attendant to request for land resources in rural communities. It was recommended that efforts should be made by Governors who are trustees under the LUA to use their powers in the interest of the people and that reforms be undertaken to resolve latent contradictions in the Act. It was concluded that customary tenancy should be harnessed for sustainable Post COVID – 19 land use in Nigeria.

This paper aims to explore the role of participatory governance to actors’ participation in land use planning for tenure security in rural Tanzania. Three case studies where land use planning project implemented were selected to make assessment on how local actors were involved in the process.

This paper uses qualitative research methods, whereby semi-structured interviews with village landholders and key informants were conducted to get their perspectives on land use decisions and land tenure (in)security. Besides, focus group discussions with the village landholders were also used.

The research findings indicate low participation of local actors in land use planning process. Decisions on land use by the local actors were very minimal. Further, communication between the involved actors was also difficult.

The study offers insights on participatory governance into land use planning for tenure security. The study develops a framework to improve land use planning process toward tenure security outcome. A tri-partite strategy consisting of enabling mechanisms of governance capacity, institutional capacity and converging discourses articulates a framework for the evolution in the degree of local actors’ participation to improve security of land rights through land use planning process in rural Tanzania.

This paper aims to examine current land administration practices (LA) in Tanzania to pinpoint divergences and convergences from past experiences that necessitated the 1990s reforms.

Literature review was carried out to understand historical practices which were then matched with current regulatory framework and observable LA practices captured through in-depth individual and group interviews of LA professionals in the public and private sectors, as well as LA customers in Dodoma Region Tanzania.

The current practices and government’s responses through land law reforms is largely a replica of what happened in the pre- and post-independence eras until just before the 1990s reform and is still characterised by corruption, inefficiency in service delivery and poor coordination among LA actors. It introduces superficial land governance structure over customary land as it was during colonialism; induces a temporary hikes in title delivery without any sustainability prospects just as it was immediately after independence; and induces more uncertainties for local land holders/investors than it addresses as it was during the implementation of the 1982 agricultural policy. Furthermore, the current awareness education during rural land titling programmes is inadequate to address the perceived risk of land alienation and dispossession among the poor.

A uniform LA system and tenure type throughout Tanzania that cater for the need of the time rather than a fragmented system of LA, which fuels maladministration and inefficiency in LA, is dearly needed.

Convergence of current LA practices with some of the worst past experiences explains some failures in land policy reform in Tanzania and the developing world in general.

It has been argued that traditional land transfer systems provide disincentives for farmers to trade their land, thus reducing land availability and depressing productivity. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of land rentals under customary land ownership in matrilineal and patrilineal traditions and under formal land registration in the rural areas of Malawi.

Using new data collected from around 100 households farming around 200 parcels in three regions of Malawi, a number of models are estimated with ordinary least squares.

The paper finds some evidence that some variables within the traditional system of land holding are crucial for land rentals. However, when land titles are used as a proxy for security of tenure, none of the relationships commonly hypothesized between land ownership security and land lease are corroborated. Land registration is found to have no significant effects on land and rentals.

These results put into question the potency of sole land registration as a means of enhancing land market activities for rural masses in Malawi.

The uniqueness of this paper rests in it its use of context-specific constructs of land ownership security. Moreover the tested hypotheses emerge from a theoretical model that is unique to the literature on rural land markets and land tenure.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and examine the role of accounting and accountants in customary land transactions between Indigenous peoples and foreign corporate entities. The paper uses the case of two accountants who utilised accounting technologies in lease agreements to alienate customary land from Indigenous landowners in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Employing a case study methodology, the paper draws on contemporary data sets of transcripts related to a Commission of Inquiry established in 2011 to investigate PNG’s Special Agricultural Business Lease system. Analysis of other publicly available data and semi-structured interviews with PNG landowners and other stakeholders supplement and triangulate data from the inquiry transcripts. A Bourdieusian lens was adopted to conceptualise how accounting was used in the struggles for customary land between foreign developers and Indigenous landowners within the wider capitalist field and the traditional Melanesian field.

This paper reveals how accountants exploited PNG’s customary land registration system, the Indigenous peoples’ lack of financial literacy and their desperation for development to alienate customary land from landowners. The accountants employed accounting technologies in the sublease agreements to reduce their royalty obligations to the landowners and to impose penalty clauses that made it financially impossible for the landowners to cancel the leases. The accountants used accounting to normalise, legitimise and rationalise these exploitative arrangements in formal lease contracts.

This paper responds to the call for research on accounting and Indigenous peoples that is contemporary rather than historic; examines the role of accountants in Indigenous relations, and examines the emancipatory potential of accounting.

This paper assesses the effect of land ownership on household food security through its productivity enhancement effect in rural Burkina Faso.

As the link between land tenure security and productivity is indirect, the study relies on a complex mixed process regression model with robustness to assess the effect of land ownership on household productivity. Then, an instrumental variable (IV) approach is followed to investigate the association between household productivity and food security. The rural development program survey data collected from 1,892 households in 2017 are used.

The complex mixed process estimation results are robust and show that land ownership has a positive effect on household productivity. From the IV results, it is found that productive households spend more on food, have a low share of expenditures on food and are less likely to experience severe food shortages, implying an improvement in their food security status. This highlights a positive association between land ownership and food security.

Unlike previous studies that only focused on the effect of land ownership on land-related investments and agricultural productivity, this study deepens the analysis and sheds light on how land ownership, agricultural production and food security are related. It gives empirical evidence on the importance of land policies in the struggle against food insecurity in agrarian economies.

The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-11-2021-0658.

Examines the cultural issues considered in relation to compulsory purchase by the courts in Ghana and comments on the interpretations currently placed on such cases by the courts. Notes that in Ghana the contentious issue is often not the amount of compensation due but who is entitled to that compensation. Concludes that rights in customary land law will tend to fade away as the nature of the use to which the land is put becomes more permanent.

Northern Ghana still has vast supplies of undeveloped land, with enormous potential for commercial agriculture, agro‐industries, housing estates, shopping centres and hotels. Yet its regional economy remains weak. Ignoring the historical and colonial origins of the marginalization of the North generally, examines the tenurial issues and land management practices of the region and their implications for investment mobilization. The evidence suggests that the chequered history of land tenure not only resulted in social unrest and the displacement of helpless villagers, but also induced the destruction of invaluable investments, particularly in agriculture. To promote investments in the landed property sector more certain land tenure systems, secure and speedier land title documentation processes and improved management practices are required. For sustainable investments, however, tenurial security must of necessity be combined with improvements in technical and social infrastructure, financial support, widened markets and guaranteed prices, appropriate technology and environmental security. Government commitment and investment incentive packages, along with international financial and technical support should also facilitate the development process.

The land sector in Ghana, particularly skin lands acquisition and title registration are fraught with several issues including unreliable record-keeping systems and land encroachments. The paper explores the potential of blockchain application in skin lands acquisition and title registration in Ghana with the aim of developing a blockchain-enabled framework for land acquisition. The purpose of this paper is to use the framework as a tool towards solving some of the loopholes in the process that leads to numerous issues bedeviling the current system.

The paper adopts a systematic literature review approach fused with informal discussions with key informants and leverages on the researchers’ own experiences to conceptualize blockchain application in skin lands acquisition in Ghana.

Problems bedeviling skin lands acquisition and title registration emanated from the issuance of allocation notes, payment of kola money and use of a physical ledger to document land transactions. As a result, the developed framework was designed to respond to these issues and deal with the problems. As the proposed blockchain framework would be a public register, it was argued that information on all transactions on a specific parcel of land could be available to the public in real-time. This enhances transparency and possibly resolves the issue of encroachments and indeterminate land boundaries because stakeholders can determine rightful owners of land parcels before initiating transactions.

Practically, blockchain technology has the potential to deal with the numerous issues affecting the smooth operation of skin lands acquisition and title registration in Ghana. Once the enumerated issues are resolved, there will be certainty of title to and ownership of land and property to drive investments because lenders could more easily ascertain owners of land parcels that could be used as collateral for securing loans. Similarly, property developers and land purchasers could easily identify rightful owners for land transactions. The government would be able to identify owners for land and property taxation.

This paper contributes to the literature on blockchain and application to land acquisition and title registration with a focus on a specific customary land ownership system.

There is a long-standing debate about the relationship between land title registration and tenure security. Studies in the developing world point to a tenuous link between land registration and stable land tenure. The reason why people continue to register therefore becomes a mystery if tenure security is not entirely assured. This article focuses on the increase in property value as one such factor that induces title registration. Previous studies have quantified the economic impact of title registration on property values. However, the impact varies from city or country to another. The authors seek to investigate the extent of property value increment in Accra attributable to land title registration.

The authors statistically analyzed a data set from two institutions (First National Bank and the Lands Commission) in Ghana using a quantitative technique.

The authors discovered that, holding all other factors constant, the value of the land in Accra increases by 22.6% due to land title registration. This shows that lessees must register to enhance property values, even though the essential due diligence must be done to make sure the acquisition is free from liens and legal disputes.

This article highlights the implication of the findings for land administration as well as the practice of property valuation, development and brokerage in Ghana and Global South more broadly.

This is one of the first studies in Ghana to investigate the specific premium that housing markets put on land title registration.