The International Land Coalition in Africa has called for strong land governance to rebuild Africa.
The continued spread of COVID-19 and the scorch of climate change in Africa have caused economies to contract substantially with lives and livelihoods put at risk, as COVID-19 and the associated economic challenges continue to spill into an African food crisis.
Before COVID-19, half of Africans faced food insecurity due to climate change and other factors, of which 50 per cent are severely food insecure and the number of people who are hungry might likely double in 2021.
“We cannot stand and wait until the sector is crushed. From 15-17 September 2020, the International Land Coalition in Africa, African Union Commission and Intergovernmental Authority on Development are convening various stakeholders on land governance to the Africa Land Forum 2020,” ILC Africa said.
According to the organisation, people-centred land governance is necessary to re-launch Africa’s agriculture it brings together over 1,000 development actors who will deliberate on ‘Delivering on the African Union’s Agenda 2063 for people-centred land governance in Africa.’
“For ‘the Africa we want’ to be achieved, we must strategically address the burning issues of weak land tenure security, locust swarms that destroy crops in the Horn of Africa, regional insecurity and conflict that decrease effective land governance, and climate change-related droughts and flooding destroying crops and the livelihoods of millions of African smallholder farmers,” said Audace Kubwimana, ILC Africa Regional Coordinator.
“These concerns echo many aspirations on Agenda 2063’s master plan for the transformation of Africa into the global powerhouse of the future in a few decades.”
Dr. Janet Edeme, Head, Rural Economy Division, AU’s Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture, added, “We need to factor in the role of continental and regional integration institutions to enable better implementation of the Africa Union Land Agenda.
“The 2020 Land Forum affords us the opportunity to assess how far we have come, and what needs to be adjusted so as to improve land governance on the continent.”
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, secure land tenure is associated with higher levels of investment and productivity in agriculture and also determines higher incomes and greater economic well-being.
The ILC Africa’s recent statistics revealed that while women constituted 70 per cent of the active rural population and 80 per cent of food production capacity in Senegal (and most of sub-Saharan Africa), only 13 per cent had access to land and 2.6 per cent held secure land tenure rights.
Furthermore, 61.2 per cent of women said lack of resources deepened inequality on access to land.
“I am happy to note that the forum has given a prominent place to inclusion and gender equality in land governance. It is critical that the actors on the continent employ multiple pathways to gender equality agenda on land if we are to meet the targets set in the Agenda 2063.
“It is equally important for us to understand how meeting these targets unlocks the full potential and contribution of youth and women toward the Africa we want, in the COVID-19 era and beyond,” said Esther Obaikol, land governance expert at Intergovernmental Authority on Development.
