Transcript The inevitability of private property in Africa

The inevitability of private
property in Central Mali
Roy Cole
Visiting faculty
Department of Geography and Tourism
University of Cape Coast, Ghana
Associate Professor of Geography and Planning
Grand Valley State University
Allendale, Michigan, USA
Ongoing research
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The original purpose of this research was to understand the impacts of
drought on land use in rural Mali.
The focus was on people-environment relations/drought-coping
strategies literature.
I’ve used household surveys, informal interviewing.
The air photo study I’m reporting on today was completed in 2000
although I collected the data in 1986.
The household surveys I collected in 1985-85 formed the data for my
doctoral dissertation.
The study area
Recently the area
has been
experiencing
increasing
dryness and
population
growth
SOURCE: IPCC 2001.
SOURCE: FAO, 2003
SOURCE: FAO, 2003
Model of adaptation: individual/group choices
mediated by society, constrained by technology and
environment
Burton, Kates, and White “choice tree” behavioral
model (1993) of adaptation
Watts’ (1983) model of marginalization caused by
the conjuncture of drought-related stress and
exogenous forces (rising capitalism)
A neo-Marxist political ecology model
The population and market models of adaptation
and change seem to talk past each other
Of central importance to all these models is the land
tenure question
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The consensus of opinion on land tenure in Africa, particularly Mali
(Simpson 2001), is that traditional land tenure arrangements will remain
dominant and should be the focus of development efforts.
“Fundamental changes in tenure arrangements are unlikely to occur
unless alternative forms of production occur or, as has happened in many
parts of Asia and Latin America, the development of agrarian capitalism
begins to marginalize the peasant producer” (Okoth-Ogendo and Oucho
1993).
On the other hand, the Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto believes
that the lack of formal property rights is the source of poverty in poor
countries and that the land tenure question must be addressed first of all
to resolve population, land, and evironmental problems.
The concept of property in Mali
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Three kinds of property customarily recognized.
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Foroba. (“big field”).
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Suféforo (jonforo). (“night field”).
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Farmed by the extended family.
Entire extended family derives basic subsistence from from its products.
For as long as family has the means to cultivate this land, it will do so. Othewise the land
is reallocated by the founding families of the village to others of the village; even
strangers (dunaw).
Fields cultivated by individual households of an extended family.
Individual cultivator may keep the product for his or her household without sharing it with
the extended family.
Historically this type of property was rare – except for slave labor; (jonforo=slave field).
Kungo. (“forest,” “wilderness”).
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Uncultivated land between villages that may be of ambiguous status as to which village it
belongs.
The view of private property in the study area
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The word, foroba is synonymous with familial cooperation and sharing.
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The words, suféforo (and jonforo), can refer to anything that’s owned
by an individual – not just the product of fields farmed for the benefit of
an individual.
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If something is referred to as foroba, it is a shared resource for the
extended family. Perhaps “in-common” would be a good definition.
Foroba property is considered to be family-building.
Private property is widely considered to be divisive in nature and anti-family
(i.e. family destroying).
In the study area land is owned communally, allocated by the founding
lineages of the village to families, used only temporarily, and cannot be
sold or permanently alienated in any way.
Spatial organization of land use: Pelissier’s model
(1964) of rings of land use around a Serer village
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Costs of transportation
main influence on
pattern.
Annular pattern
develops.
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Nucleated village and
gardens (1).
Rings of permanent,
manured fields under
Acacia albida.
More distant rings of
less intensely used
land.
Patchy edges.
Forest
Ring of Acacia albida around village several km
from study village
Method
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Data.
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Analysis.
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1952, 1974 aerial photographs obtained from the Institut Geographique
Nationale in Bamako.
1985 mission was flown by by ILCA in cooperation with NASA.
In 1985 and 1986, village level household surveys were conducted in 48
villlages over a 500 km2 area.
Air photos georeferenced and analyzed with GIS.
Land use/cover classification was based on field work and inspection
of the air photos.
Results: Major land use changes in hectares
Results: Major land use changes as percent of total
land use
Land use land cover in hectares and percent,
village of Ngara, 1952, 1974, and 1985
New specialty crops and “nuances” of
ownership
Dramatic landscape transformation
Number of A. albida on “main fields”
1952 to 1985
Greater control of nature
New tools, crops, short-cycle varieties
Conclusion
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The customary spatial organization of agriculture has been destroyed
around the village of Ngara.
Private property exists in all but name and has emerged “from below.”
The evidence seems to suggests that the particular pattern that has
emerged is a result of
– Environmental stress making drought-resistant fruit trees attractive.
– Availablity (mid 1960s) of highly-productive, grafted mango stock from
the government agricultural experiment station at Sotuba.
– Government taxes (forced commercialization) on cereals but not
mangoes.
– Concern about government taking of land (desire for permanence by
fencing).
– High rate of return on sale of mangoes on the market.
Some comments on the present
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Move from statist economy since 1980s.
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Private initiative growing.
In mid-1980s privately-owned grain mills first appeared in the villages; most
owned by town dwellers (Bamako, Ségou).
State dismantling parastatals (Opération Riz).
I am preparing to do field work in area in December, 2005, to look at
the extent of the fenced areas.
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I’m expecting to find more land specialization, fenced orchards, and similar
attitudes toward private property as I found in the mid-1980s.
There is no physical reason why mangoes could not be grown in almost
the entire area. Water table is almost the same everywhere.