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Land tenure systems in sub-Saharan African countries have changed in different ways over time. This thesis investigates changes in land rights amid commodification of land and peri-urbanisation as processes resulting from rapid, continuous and uncontrolled expansion of cities in Ghana. The thesis focuses on 'abusufruct' and usufruct rights as the r...
Citations
... The study covers case studies in peri-urban Kumasi representing centralised customary land administration with matrilineal family system, and peri-urban Wa with acephalous land tenure and patrilineal family system where families rather than chiefs control land (Sumbo, 2021). Kumasi and Wa also represent two-tiered cities based on population, with the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Spatial Region being the larger city with a population of over 3 million and Wa municipal (with a population of 200672), being a medium-sized city. ...
... By both population growth and physical expansion, both cities are experiencing spontaneous urbanisation. By population, the Wa municipality doubled within 11 years, between 2010 (with population 107214) and 2021 (200672) (Ghana Statistical Service, 2014a;2021). In terms of urban expansion, Osumanu et al., 2019 revealed that the urban built-up area of Wa expanded by 1130 times in size between 1986 and 2016. ...
... The link between urbanisation, farmland access and livelihoods is inextricably linked to the type of land tenure and as sub-Saharan Africa's land holding is plural in nature (Sumbo, 2021), this nexus cannot be discussed devoid of land tenure type. Land under customary governance may respond faster to pressures of urbanisation than that under state control (see Ubink and Amanor, 2008;Adam, 2014). ...
Rapid urbanisation, particularly in Africa is leading to the transformation of peri-urban landscapes in several ways. In many instances, it affects indigenes of peri-urban communities and their access to farmland. Drawing from lived experiences among indigenes, traditional authorities, and planners in four peri-urban communities in two Ghanaian cities with differing tenure systems, Kumasi (a centralised society) and Wa (an acephalous society), this study used the case study strategy conducted through qualitative research to understand indigenes’ farmland access challenges and adaptation strategies after former agricultural land is converted into peri-urban plots amid rapid urbanisation. The study revealed that rapid urban expansion has drastically reduced available land for farming in both acephalous and centralised case studies. In effect, indigenes who previously farmed on peri-urban lands are now adopting various strategies including moving to farther communities for agricultural land and off-farm retail businesses. However, these strategies were found to be ineffective for various reasons. The paper discovered emerging contestations between indigenes and peri-urban developers as the former sought to continuously use allocated plots for farming activities whereas the latter wanted to develop the same into other urban uses. The study further revealed that increasing peri-urbanisation and the attendant farmland losses were negatively affecting the wellbeing of indigenes that used to live on the proceeds from on-farm economic activities. The study recommends that land use planning in peri-urban areas should consider urban agriculture as an integral part of the urban land use process.
