Prof Kojo Amanor on Redistribution, ownership, investment and land administrative reform in Africa

Описание: This webinar is organised by the Development Studies Association (DSA) Land, Politics &Sustainability Study Group
2023-24 Webinar Series convenor: Dr. Rama Salla Dieng

Summary of webinar:
Since the 1990s land reform has constituted an important part of market liberal policies in Africa. The implementation of contemporary land reform has been articulated within a framework of rolling back the state. The strengthening of the local and customary is seen as an important antidote to state control over land, which is seen as creating the conditions for the appropriation of land of the rural poor. However in rolling back the state the contemporary land agenda de-emphasises the needs of introducing land redistribution and concentrates on strengthening ownership rights as a means of creating secure rights in land. This presentation explores the contradictions within this approach. It examines the differences between postwar and post market liberalism land reform frameworks. It places contemporary land reforms within the context of the expansion of agribusiness and international financial investments and how this impacts upon the livelihoods of the rural poor and marginalised. The presentation also critically examines the concept of customary and its implications for democratic reforms and the renewal of society within Africa.

Bio:
Prof Kojo Amanor, Institute for African Studies, University of Ghana, Ghana. Kojo Amanor is a professor at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon. His main research interests are in the land question, smallholder agriculture, agribusiness food chains, agribusiness linkages with communities, capital accumulation in agribusiness, forestry policy, environment, south-south cooperation, and long-term patterns of ecological change in smallholder agriculture. His work combines a focus on changing patterns of global accumulation in agribusiness with processes of social differentiation within communities and struggles over resources, and a long-term historical and political economy dimension.