Customary land tenure, investments and livelihood adaptation in Northern Ghana

Abstract

The land tenure practice of any place is important for the economic well-being of its citizenry. This article assesses the investments of farmers on different categories of lands deemed to have less or more security in order to inform the debate on the relationship between tenure security and investments. We also delineate the changing livelihood portfolios of families resulting from changing access forms to land via livelihood adaptation. Quantitative data from a national survey conducted by the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research in addition to qualitative information from nine villages is used as evidence for the study. Investments in land tend to be constrained by a host of motivations and factors rather than just security. Poverty was the most important factor which prevented farmers from investing in a wide range of land improvements necessary for increasing productivity. As a result of pressure on land resources and scarcity of farmland in urban and pen-urban areas many, people are diversifying from agriculture to non-farm activities. In the rural areas, this pressure on land has led to migration by the youth to the cities and changes in land relations between land owners and other land users. The economic mix of northern Ghana is becoming complicated and in tune with global trends.' The deagrarianisation trend does not automatically lead to improvement in people's livelihoods but is contingent on social, economic and environmental factors.