Land. It is quite possibly the most emotive and explosive political issue on the continent. Today in South Africa, where approximately 67% of commercial arable land is owned by white farmers politics is consumed by the question of land expropriation without compensation to resolve the historical land injustices which have left the majority of the population landless. In Kenya the spectre of historical land injustice and contemporary land grabbing constantly haunts politics. In Nigeria, Benue state has seen conflict between pastoralists and farmers over resources and land. And these are only examples of a continent wide problem, which will only be exacerbated as foreign governments and corporations buy up huge tracts of land on the continent.

The land issue is a difficult and painful one, but from a policy perspective it is not an impossible one. The rise of the East Asian Tigers (namely Japan, South Korea and Taiwan) was built on the foundation of land reform, which sparked agricultural and industrial transformation. With smart policy Africa can untie the gordian knot of land, but to do so policy makers will have to have courage in confronting vested interests, clarity of purpose and be committed to constructing an inclusive settlement.

The East Asian example

African leaders are fond of stating their desire to replicate the rapid industrialisation and development of the East Asian Tigers and have sought to initiate industrialisation and export policies with that goal in mind. However, often glossed over are the policies upon which rapid industrialisation was based, namely land reform. Japan, Taiwan and South Korea all pursued pro-poor land reforms, aimed at giving peasant farmers legal title to smallholder family farms. In South Korea after the Korean war the government redistributed land held by the former Japanese colonial government and obliged large landholders to divest most of their land which was then given to smallholder families. Similarly, in Taiwan in the 1950s the nationalist government redistributed land held by large landlords to smallholders. And in Japan land reform had been doing away with old feudal laws since 1873 but in 1947 they carried out their most radical reform called Nōchi-kaihō (emancipation of the land). 38% of the country’s arable land was purchased from landlords and sold at low prices to the 3 million farmers who worked them. The results of these reforms were revolutionary. In Japan in the decade after the land reform agricultural production increased by 50%, in Taiwan rice yields increased by 60% and in South Korea (after they had recovered from the Korean war) rice paddy yields doubled. This set the stage for industrialisation, as well as providing food security, rising incomes among farmers were spent on domestically manufactured goods which provided crucial demand for emerging industries that later became exporters, increased savings from farmers were used by banks to fund the growing industrial sector, and the increased tax revenue allowed the government to invest in public goods such as education and infrastructure. Land reform was a critical foundational pillar of the East Asian miracle and if Africa is going to try and conjure its own economic miracle it cannot ignore that.

What’s Past is Prologue – inclusive, historically sensitive process

“What’s past is prologue’ is a phrase that Shakespeare invented, over time it has come to mean that the past is a preface to the future, in other words we can’t forget the lessons of history. When it comes to land in Africa, we cannot forget the past, in fact we must actively address it. Any policy that intends to solve the land problem must have as its first action, a process that listens and learns. Listens, to the voices of those who have been dispossessed by colonialism, development, conservation, profit, corruption conflict or any other of the myriad of reasons that African’s have been chased off their land. And learn from that painful past, where possible making recommendations that could provide restitution and at the very least making those voices heard, these stories and the pain of them part of our common history and experience and recommending concrete policy measures to prevent them happening again. Starting a comprehensive land policy with an inclusive process that engages with its painful history is the only way to ensure that the policy does not become just another chapter in the all to often tragic history of land policy in Africa.

Clarity

What are we looking to achieve? That is the question that must be at the centre of land policy and must be answered plainly. In the case of the East Asian Tigers land reform had two clear goals. First to break the power and wealth of the old feudal structures, by doing away with large feudal land holdings. Second to boost agricultural production by giving farmers ownership of the land and the incentives and where necessary help to make their land more productive. What is the goal of land reform in Africa? As with most things on the continent it will differ from country to country, but will most likely be one or a mix of the following:

• Addressing historical land injustices,
• Addressing socio-economic inequalities,
• Relieving social tensions over land,
• Increasing agricultural productivity.

With an issue like land, ambiguous goals will create outcomes that are both dissatisfactory and ineffective. Whatever it happens to be, the goals of land policy must be well defined. From clear goals, clear policy actions can be extracted. For instance, if the primary goal is increasing productivity, then policies similar to those pursued in Japan where land was redistributed to existing farmers (those with existing knowledge, experience and skills in farming) and they were supported through investment and subsidy programs, would be at the centre of land reform. If relieving social tension is the core goal then alternative modes of land ownership, access and use such communally owned land, trusts etc, would be the focus of your policy actions.

Courage

Courage is not a word you hear often in policy circles, but when it comes to land reform policy in Africa it is a requirement. This is because there are multiple groups who have a stake in land reform and the policy process requires confronting all of these interests, in full recognition that you may not be able to make all of them happy. In most cases there are large land owners who are economically powerful and automatically dislike the idea of land reform as it carries the prospect of reducing their own land holdings. There are the landless and land hungry who by their sheer numbers are the gallery that politicians play to in their hunt for votes, making wild promises or statements that often fuel tensions. In many countries there are pastoralists or nomadic communities for whom access to large tracts of land are vital to their survival. Inclusivity requires listening to all these interests and having the courage to confront the pain of generations. Clarity requires having the courage to set goals and make a clear case for them. Finally, policy formulation and implementation require the courage to actually confront all the interests and politics around land. Most of all land reform requires the courage to acknowledge that we have ignored this vital element of socio-economic policy for too long. Land is the foundation of an economy and society, how you use it and who has it has a massive impact on economic development and social cohesion, and since independence most African states have let rapacious private business and political interests decide those crucial questions rather than come up with a coherent policy.

Land reform will not look the same in every African country, that is why I have not tried to suggest specific policies. We can learn from each other’s experiences and contexts but on our diverse continent, the land question stems from a variety of issues that are not the same across the continent. What is clear, is that across the continent for there to be comprehensive, coherent, beneficial land reform we must be willing to confront the injustices of the past and include everyone in the land reform conversation, we must be clear about what it is we are seeking to achieve, and we must have the courage to confront the vested interests. Doing so would yield some novel approaches to land reform, but they would be effective and set the foundation for fairer societies and economic growth.