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ABSTRACT
This article examines the disproportionate gendered impacts of land grabbing amongst affected communities in Nguti subdivision of the South West Region of Cameroon. I argue that, first, pre-existing land tenure systems and a shift to a capitalist agrarian production structure has led to unequal access to land between men and women. Second, I show that the loss of land to commercial interests has constrained women’s abilities to access land either for crop production and/or to harvest non-timber forest products (NTFPs), creating significant livelihood stress for them and their communities. I conclude by advocating that the state should formally recognise customary tenure, and mainstream gender within its institutions (customary and statutory) governing land and forest resources. Women need to be empowered through education and capacity-building programs to enable them to exercise their rights to access land, and benefit from resources.
RÉSUMÉ
Cet article examine l’impact disproportionné, en fonction du genre, de l’expropriation des terres parmi les communautés les plus défavorisées de la sous-division de Nguti, dans la Région du Sud-Ouest du Cameroun. Premièrement, je soutiens que les systèmes préexistants de propriété foncière et une évolution vers une structure de production agraire capitaliste ont entraîné une inégalité entre hommes et femmes, concernant l’accès aux terres. Deuxièmement, je démontre que la perte des terres, au profit des intérêts commerciaux, a restreint la capacité des femmes à accéder aux terres, que ce soit pour la production agricole et/ou pour récolter des PFNL, générant ainsi des tensions significatives liées aux conditions de vie, pour elles et pour leurs communautés. En conclusion, je plaide pour que l’État reconnaisse formellement les systèmes coutumiers de propriété foncière, et intègre les questions de genre au sein de ses institutions (coutumières et statutaires) dont la fonction est de gérer les ressources foncières et forestières. Les femmes doivent être dotées, à travers des programmes d’éducation et de renforcement des capacités, des moyens d’exercer leurs droits à l’accès aux terres, et à bénéficier des ressources.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Professor Simon Batterbury and Dr. Wolf Dressler for reading this piece of work, and for making constructive comments and suggestions. I also remain grateful to the local government authorities, traditional leaders, and populations of Nguti sub-division for their cooperation during fieldwork, without which it would not have been possible to realize these results.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. The phrase land grab has become a catch-all to describe and analyse the current explosion of large scale (trans)national commercial transactions of land (Borras, Fig, and Suarez Citation2011).
2. The phrase “terres vacantes et sans maître” was used to indicate vacant land without a landlord.
3. The traditional land tenure system allows right of access to all persons constituting membership within a given society. Following this system, rights of access to, and use of land and related resources are, however, regulated by a family head or local chiefs who act as custodian.
4. The freehold tenure implied by this reform is grounded on exclusive rights, for example, the right to lease, sale, or transfer.
5. Research conducted in Nguti sub-division suggests that peoples’ farmlands were acquired by SGSOC for the development of palm plantations. For example, Ndi and Batterbury (Citation2017) documented how farmland belonging to a group of farmers in Manyemen was forcefully acquired by SGSOC. Also, the agro company encroached into the land of the people of Babensi II, and has since then refused to leave. These are all evidence of dispossession caused by the agro company (see Ndi Citation2017b).
6. The use of the word “legal” depends on the context and is a matter of perspective. On the one hand, an action might be considered legal because it is backed by contemporary law – such as the right to exploit a piece of land when an individual can show proof of a land certificate. On the other hand, another individual might encroach the forest to extract forest resources because s/he has the customary right to land.
7. “Illegal access” is part of the “legal access” category and could include the dispossession of land from those who hold legal customary titles, such as through land grabs (Goldman, Davis, and Little Citation2016).
8. These are crops grown with the prime purpose to be consumed by families or community members. They are generally geared towards satisfying immediate community food needs. Excess production is sometimes sold to the market to generate additional family income.
9. These are crops mostly produced for the market.
10. This is usually those periods when all cocoa has been extracted from farms, sold, and money spent. These periods (months of the year) are usually the period where farmers and farming communities as Nguti sub-division experience the peak of hardship.
11. This is used as a substitute to okra. It is also called dry season mango. The seed is used for cooking, and has a huge international market in Nigeria, Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea.
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Frankline A. Ndi
Frankline A. Ndi holds a PhD in Resource Management and Geography from the University of Melbourne, an International MSc in Rural Development (Ghent University, Belgium), an MSc in Peace and Development Studies (Linnaeus University, Sweden) and a BSc in Sociology and Anthropology (University of Buea, Cameroon). His research interests include food security; agricultural development; rural livelihoods; conservation and development projects; and environmental policies, politics, and conflicts.