The importance of protecting individual property rights has been widely accepted. By contrast, the unequivocalness of individual land property rights, especially its role as collateral, has been widely debated. This study discusses an alternative system, land pawning, which enables people to borrow without land property rights. Based on studies on Japanese early modern period, this study argues that land pawning and credit transactions were active even without a land property system. Japanese early modern history suggests that establishing a land property right is not a prerequisite for the development of financial activities. The Japanese early modern land and taxation system also suggests a close link between land-based taxation and a land-based credit system. Institutionalist studies ignore the role of taxation in the land system and collateral-backed finance. There is a theoretical discrepancy between the availability of land for use as collateral and inducing industrial investment. This gap within the various institutionalist arguments needs to be closed.

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In this paper, we define African climbing countries as those that have realised increased annualized economic growth since reaching a per capita GDP of US $500. We identified 16 countries out of 47 as climbing countries, but five of them stood out, with an average growth of 4%. We showed that climbing countries experienced a positive structural transformation and were still in the process of industrialising, whereas non-climbing countries experienced premature deindustrialisation. We then used Bayesian model averaging to show that growth among climbing countries occurred because of favourable trade policies and good use of natural resources.

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This chapter analyses how the youth in Sierra Leone were manipulated by political parties which were formed in line with the ethnoregional-neopatrimonial system. This chapter explains that the deeply rooted ethnoregional-neopatrimonial political system created an atmosphere of violent politicisation of these youths and culminated in their displacement within the governing political structure. This manipulation hinders the development of equal youth participation in politics and becomes an obstacle to liberal post-conflict peacebuilding.

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This paper is a segment of a larger study on landlessness, livelihoods, and youth. It begins on the note that youth unemployment is a global crisis and that land holds hope as a pathway to employment creation through agriculture. Notwithstanding the sector’s potential, a common orthodoxy associates young people with apathy ‘in this field of work’, due to their perception of farming as antiquated, unprofitable and ‘not seen as a business’. While this paper seeks to explain what accounts for young people’s half-hearted attitude towards farming in the Zuarungu area, it argues that the commodification of land leads to competition among the rich upper class, which, combined with unceasing increases in population, results in land fragmentation at family and individual levels. Consequently, some compounds and individuals are stripped of land holdings, particularly arable lands, thus rendering them landless. This may be a critical factor in determining youth interest in land, generally, and farming, in particular. This paper contributes to existing research on the subject of the youth snubbing agriculture and contends that blanket explanations for youth disinterest in agriculture cannot suffice for all areas, even in a given country.

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In the face of the formidable challenges posed by climate change, there is growing concern that the goal of food security for all must be pursued in a climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable manner. Conservation agriculture (CA) has been drawing increasing recognition as a climate-smart farming system that addresses the interconnected challenges of food security and climate change. Drawing from a case study of smallholder CA practices conducted in four different areas in eastern and southern provinces of Rwanda, this paper discusses key constraints to the adoption and scaling-up of CA as perceived by smallholder farmers in these areas. These constraints range from those stemming from farmers’ limited access to agricultural resources and services necessary for productive CA, to those posed by the government’s programme for agricultural intensification and commercialisation that considerably limits farmers’ choices with regard to the farming system and methods they may adopt. This paper proposes the allocation of considerable resources to address resource and service-related constraints suffered by smallholder farmers. It also calls for attention to be paid to the limitations caused by government policies. Together, these proposals encourage continuous effort to be made in policymaking and implementation to give smallholder farmers more space and increased support for experimenting, adopting, and expanding a farming system with greater productivity and climate resilience.

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Over the last decade, international development agencies have highlighted agricultural intensification as a strategy to boost economic growth and reduce poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Rwanda has adopted the Crops Intensification Programme (CIP) since 2007. The implementation of this program involved the initiation of other programs and strategies, including the Land Use Consolidation (LUC) programme as its main pillar. The CIP-LUC programme aims to transform small-scale and subsistence farming into large-scale and market-oriented agriculture, to enhance productivity and improve the wellbeing of those involved in agriculture, who are mostly poor. Drawing from the experience of women farmers involved in farmer’s cooperatives in the Huye and Gisagara Districts of southern Rwanda, this paper aims to understand the effects of agricultural intensification on gender relations and women’s daily lives. Using interviews and focus group discussions, the present findings demonstrate that the change from subsistence farming to capitalist agricultural production affected gender relations, as farm households are required to intensify labour and capital. Consequently, women’s labour is proletarianised, as it is considered as ‘free family labour’. Moreover, it is worth noting that the interaction of gender, class, and government interventionism underpins women’s subordination and exploitation under this capitalist agrarian model.

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This study assesses people’s perceptions of conservation opportunities and challenges. Research was conducted in Nyungwe and Mukura-Gishwati national parks, Rwanda. Data were collected through interviews, focus group discussions, and observational methods. Participants were selected purposively based on their living experience, societal role, and experience in conservation programs, and the data was analysed using qualitative methods. The findings indicate that the management of Nyungwe National Park has improved relationships between the local community and the Park. This is through the accommodation of local needs such as infrastructure (schools, health centres, and communal water tanks), and provision of income-generating activities. Also, there has been increased awareness in terms of park protection through a tourism revenue sharing scheme introduced in 2005. However, some cases of human-wildlife conflict, fire, deforestation, agricultural expansion, and wildlife hunting in Nyungwe National Park threatened conservation efforts. The relationship between Gishwati-Mukura National Park and the local communities has yet to be shaped; local communities currently receive no income or direct benefit from the Park. Threats such as mining activities, fodder cutting, firewood collection, and grazing were prevailing threats for Gishwati-Mukura National Park. To address these challenges, researchers recommend decision-makers increase initiatives that economically empower local communities and therefore reduce poverty as a critical indirect threat that hinders better conservation outcomes.

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Socio-economic household surveys among indigenous peoples in general and the Bakola/Bagyelli in Cameroon in particular are infrequent. The dearth of such works testifies to the low interest of specialist of social science, especially anthropology, in this subject. This article presents the current socioeconomic status of Pygmy households in the south-coastal region of Cameroon. The Bakola/Bagyelli are now more than ever concerned about their living conditions, which are rapidly deteriorating. They have implemented survival strategies to fight poverty and precariousness, which hamper their well-being. These include slash-and-burn agriculture, the rearing of small ruminants, petty trade and the introduction of the market economy. Although invisible at the national level, these strategies aim to direct Pygmy camps towards sustainable economic development. This article’s objective is to highlight the dynamics of and local strategies implemented by these populations to improve their living conditions. Through a census, data on sociodemographic characteristics, productive activities, access to resources, and family budgets of households within the camps are collected from the Bipindi, Lolodorf, and Lokoundjé subdivision. The methodology used combines several methods and techniques. The results of this study show an improvement in the living conditions of Bakola/Bagyelli households.

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The management of protected areas (PAs) and their surrounding landscapes is generally associated with the response of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to biodiversity conservation and climate change. The general aim is to reduce deforestation and preserve biodiversity. This preliminary study aims to identify the local knowledge and potential challenges associated with their valorisation in the Rubi-Tele Hunting Area (RTHA), a PA in the northern DRC. The methodological approach included the combination of qualitative and quantitative elements through a triangulation approach, and results show that the collective memory of local communities retains traditional knowledge (practices, beliefs, and perceptions) that promote biodiversity preservation. Unfortunately, changes in the socio-economic situation of the country and the local context threaten this knowledge. Additionally, l’Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) has not tried to build on traditional knowledge memory to promote local biodiversity conservation. To avoid deforestation and a biodiversity crisis, the participatory approach can be useful for mainstreaming traditional/local knowledge in the management plan of protected areas of the DRC, such as RTHA.

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Women contribute to reducing hunger and improving household food security and livelihood. However, they do not benefit from secure land rights. This study thus aimed to determine the factors that prevent women from Rubi-Tele from enjoying their rights. A 2-week survey completed by four focus groups in four villages helped us gather information that was later analysed using a socio-legal approach. All women were involved in agriculture, but they were the only workers who could not control or manage the land. They often accessed land through the family channel (96.7%), while other pathways were less used by the origin (3.3%). Although the Democratic Republic of the Congo has made enormous progress, women were unaware of these advances: thus, 70% did not know their rights. This unawareness impeded their ability to initiate strategies to claim their rights. Some women have been able to identify their difficulties. They incriminated the custom standards that favoured their male counterparts (21.7%). Additionally, begging for husband permission (28%) and poverty (20%) were cited as barriers to women’s property rights. Moreover, some women conservationists preferred the custom to formal laws, despite their advances (30%). No strategy has been initiated because women fear the society’s response.

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Research has posited profound questions regarding governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, and most of these questions are focused on political practices. Therefore, several research agendas, including that of the current paper, have focused on understanding complex governance phenomenon, such as state corruption. I will address the following research questions: How do we explain the cultural properties inherent in state corruption in African political regimes? What are the complexities within the rational ‘interest’ and the cultural ‘normativity’ while explaining state corruption as an organised crime in African governmentality? Which factors are we failing to understand? In this paper, I engage a relational analytical approach that integrates the notion of motivation (including interest, greed, and grievance) as well as the process of cultural production and reproduction of corrupt practices, particularly in Uganda. First, I seek to explain that the type of politics and environment wherein such politics are manifested define the context and extent of corruption as well as the regime’s commitment to its prevention. Second, and most importantly, the rules, experiences, routines, and taken-for-granted practices that characterise the structure of a specific polity produce and reproduce a culturally corrupt system wherein people do not question the authoritative figures and are perpetually ruled over.

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For decades, Uganda has been a favourable destination for refugees. Between the late 1980s and the 1990s, violent conflicts in northern Uganda and southern Sudan caused complex patterns of human movement, including internal and cross-border migration. In addition, a mass influx of refugees from South Sudan occurred in late 2013. Uganda hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa, taking a progressive refugee management approach aimed at self-reliance and the peaceful coexistence of refugees and the host population. This paper reveals how South Sudanese refugees and the host population, most of whom consist of people who were displaced during the regional armed conflict, navigate life in new social and economic conditions in and around a refugee settlement in mid-western Uganda. Refugees have long been looked upon as a burden to host countries. Recent studies on the refugee economy, however, reveal that refugees can contribute to the Ugandan economy. I analyse how a refugee-hosting area saw economic development and urbanisation in a relatively short period. On the other hand, local people, whether refugees or Ugandan nationals, have been struggling to cope with the depletion of resources, including food, land, and firewood. Finally, I discuss the social and economic impact of conflict-induced migration in refugee-hosting areas.

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In recent years, global connectivity has led to the phenomenal movement of people across Mozambique in search of natural resources. Easier communication has turned the world into a nutshell in terms of time and distance. It is predicted that the growth of international migration will become aggravated in the coming years. Given Mozambique’s openness to foreign direct investments (FDIs), the peace that followed the country after the General Peace Agreement in 1992, and the subsequent era of coal, oil, and gas discoveries, the country came into the spotlight before the international community. Countless international migrants have entered the country by road, air, and sea in search of gold and forestry resources, while large companies came to explore oil, gas, forests, and coal. Thus, this paper seeks to reflect on the depredation of natural resources, perceived by many to be caused by international immigrants with either legal or illegal status. The literature review, data collected in the Cabo Delgado and Gaza provinces in the context of artisan mining and environmental refugees, and empirical evidence from news sources help to shed light on the issue. The main research question is: Is Mozambique again facing a new era of resource predation?

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Land has become a widely debated topic in the world. From governments, academics, civil society groups to local farmers, all have been concerned with issues related to land and, more specifically, how to make use of this asset to improve societies’ well-being and promote economic development. Among the many debated issues concerning this topic, there is concern about promoting a secured land ownership tenure that will give incentives for greater investment in land as well as the importance of preventing and correcting social inequalities to promote a more equitable and sustainable development. In the current context, the majority of the African population lives off the land practicing agriculture for subsistence, and Mozambique is no exception. Amid the increase in the number and size of foreign land investments, this paper aims to analyse the impact of land titling on the tenure security of communities in Mozambique. The theoretical focus will be on the Neoliberal Paradigm that advocates for land titling and privatisation in the process of land reform.

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