This presentation was given by CIFOR scientist D. Andrew Wardell and George Schoneveld at UNIKIS in June 2014.

1. THINKING beyond the canopy
“Still trying to kill two big birds with one stone?”
250 years of land acquisitions in Ghana
D. Andrew Wardell and George Schoneveld
UNIKIS, CIFOR Side Event – 8 June 2014

2. THINKING beyond the canopy
 Colonial context
 A belated encounter with
‘empire forestry’ in the NTs
 Land acquisition for groundnuts
- Gonja Development Company
 Land administration in Ghana
post 1962
 Land acquisition for biofuels
 Land acquisitions compared
Outline

3. THINKING beyond the canopy
• Danish plantation experiments (1788-1850)
• Early resistance to land and forest legislation
• Forests Ordinance No. 13, Cap. 157, 1927
• Appropriation of land to establish
• 214 forest reserves (15.000 km2) by 1939
– Securing micro-climates for cocoa production
– Increasing timber production
– Meeting local needs for forest products
• Only 160 km2 (1%) of forest reserves in NTs
• Pan-territorial forest policy adopted in 1949
Precedents in Gold Coast and Ashanti

4. THINKING beyond the canopy
 Paying for ‘hegemony on a
shoestring’
 Export crops – shea,
livestock and silk cotton
 Labour reserve
 Parsimony and lack of vision
 Systematic
underdevelopment
Northern Territories of the Gold Coast Colony

5. THINKING beyond the canopy
Perceptions of African profligacy

6. THINKING beyond the canopy
‘Empire forestry’ in a colonial backwater
• False starts (1922-1937)
• Indirect rule - ’Native Authority Forestry’
• 66 forest reserves established (1943-1957)
• An unlikely alliance?
– Protection of headwaters of Volta River system
(Akosombo Dam)
– Involuntary resettlement of up to 70,000 people
(source of labour for groundnut production)
• West Africa Oil Seeds Mission (1947)
• ”... killing two big birds with one stone”(28 Oct. 1947)
• North Mamprusi Forestry Conference (Nov. 1947)

7. THINKING beyond the canopy
• Certificate of Occupancy - 130 km2 (approved by CCNT)
• Nominal capital of GBP 1 million (24% of all CWDA
grants to Gold Coast/Ghana, 1946-1961)
• 19 expatriates and 47 technicians
• Multiple incentives but
• only 15 families moved from Zuarungu (1950-57)
• An abject failure – liquidated in 1957
• Pogucki’s report on land tenure ignored
• State Farms Corporation – post-independence
efforts to promote mechanized agriculture also
failed
Gonja Development Company

8. THINKING beyond the canopy
“…the Native Authority….personnel functioned without judicial
restraint and were never elected. Appointed from above, they
held office so long as they enjoyed the confidence of their
superiors. Their powers were diffuse, with little functional
specificity. . . . Native Courts, Native Administration, and a
Native Treasury . . . crystallized the ensemble of powers merged
in the office of the chief. . . . [T]hese powers also included a
fourth: making rules”.
Mamdani, M. 1996. Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of
Late Colonialism. Princeton University Press: Princeton: 53
See also Ribot, Berman, Spear and others
The roots of un-democratic features?

9. THINKING beyond the canopy
• 78% of land under customary ownership
• Administration of Lands Act, 1962
– Customary land cannot be alienated
– Renewable leases (50 and 99 years) for foreigners and
citizens respectively
– Traditional Authorities (Paramount Chiefs and village
elders ) are the title holders with sole authority to
negotiate and approve allocation of customary land
• Ghana Constitution, 1992
– Compulsory acquisition through right to eminent domain
• National Land Policy, 1999 – protect landowners’ rights
• Land Administration Project (2003-)
Land administration in Ghana post 1962

10. THINKING beyond the canopy
• Agriculture 34% of GDP and employs 55% of
population (2010)
• 20 commercial biofuel investments
• Estimated 1.184 million hectares of land allocated
to biofuel companies
• 3 Norwegian companies responsible for more than
60% of acquired land area
• Less than 10,000 hectares under cultivation
• Land acquired through opaque processes of
negotiation with Traditional Authorities
• Few approvals from Lands Commission, GIPC and
EPA
Land acquisitions for biofuels in Ghana

11. THINKING beyond the canopy
Distribution of biofuel feedstock plantations

12. THINKING beyond the canopy
• Smallholder bush fallow (yam) farming being
displaced by commercial Jatropha plantations
• Loss of access to land and forest resources
• Net value of employment probably less than net
value of displaced economic activities
• Agricultural modernization for economic growth
and structural transformation in rural areas?
• Reducing the north-south divide?
Impacts of land acquisition for biofuels

13. THINKING beyond the canopy
• Low population densities enabling access to large
contiguous areas of land at low cost
• Little, if any, compensation (or evidence of
Traditional Authorities negotiating compensation
on behalf of their constituents)
• Elite capture - customary land users at the mercy of
Traditional Authorities, and with few redress
mechanisms
• Limited influence of Pogucki’s study and/or
Customary Land Secretariats
• The continuing promise of ’development’?
Land acquisitions compared 1

14. THINKING beyond the canopy
• The incorporation of subject peoples into the arena
of colonial power introduced a ’bifurcated state’
encompassing decentralized communities bound by
customary laws but which, nevertheless, continued
to serve a centralised power
• Customary land authorities remain invisible to the
law
• Historically-embedded power relations limit the
checks and balances on chiefly authority and,
ultimately the utility of public intervention
Land acquisitions compared 2

15. THINKING beyond the canopy
Nature of right Extent of right Persons permitted to exercise rights
1 Hunting Unrestricted except that use of
steel traps is prohibited.
All inhabitants of the Bongo, Talense, Sekoti and Nangodi Local
Council areas.
2 Fishing Unrestricted. All inhabitants of the Bongo, Talense, Sekoti and Nangodi Local
Council areas. Fishing on permit also permitted for the following
strangers: 1. Denyi Adzarkaku 2. Norman Shama 3. Mensah Azandado
4. Gbetor Adziego
3 Collection of honey Unrestricted but not the months
of Oct. , Nov. and Dec.
All inhabitants of the Bongo, Talense, Sekoti and Nangodi Local
Council areas.
4 Right to water and graze cattle Subject to control of the Forestry
Officer.
All inhabitants of the Bongo, Talense, Sekoti and Nangodi Local
Council areas.
5 Right to maintain existing paths Unrestricted. All inhabitants of the Bongo, Talense, Sekoti and Nangodi Local
Council areas.
6 Right to cut sticks for making hoe handles,
axes and household implements
On free permit for personal use. All inhabitants of the Bongo, Talense, Sekoti and Nangodi Local
Council areas.
7 Right to collect clay, sand and stone On free permit. All inhabitants of the Bongo, Talense, Sekoti and Nangodi Local
Council areas.
8 Access to, and right to burn grass around
specific fetishes
Subject to control of the Forestry
Officer.
All inhabitants of the Bongo, Talense, Sekoti and Nangodi Local
Council areas. Fetishes: 1. Kayengo 2. Goog 3. Dagani 4. Abura
5. Kparida 6. Tulanamoo 7. Sakpari. Access to the following fetishes:
1. Asoliperu 2. Gbelungaan.
9 Right to plant tobacco Along the river banks. All inhabitants of the Bongo, Talense, Sekoti and Nangodi Local
Council areas. Also to the following strangers: 1. Denyi Adzarkaku
2. Norman Shama 3. Mensah Azandado 4. Gbetor Adziego
10 Right to cut building poles On free permit at the discretion
of the Forestry Officer.
Also to the following strangers: 1. Denyi Adzarkaku 2. Norman Shama
3. Mensah Azandado 4. Gbetor Adziego.
11 Cutting of grass for mat making and
roofing. Collection of tie-tie, edible fruits,
herbaceous plants for medicinal purposes,
deadfall for firewood, white ants
Unrestricted The four strangers mentioned above can collect shea butter nuts and cut
grass to maintain their camps.
Reserve Settlement Commissions

16. THINKING beyond the canopy