Streamline land acquisition - Dr Dobge

Yendi (N/R), Mar 4, GNA - Dr Wilson Dobge, a Director of the Savanna
Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) at Nyanpkala in the Northern
Region, has called for measures to streamline the system of land
acquisition particularly in the region.
He said because it was based on "non-registration of land and
oral customary transactions and oral agreement with family members"
leading to land disputes and litigations.
Lack of proper laws and unclear boundary structures pose
challenges in the land tenure system, he stated.Dr Dobge made these
remarks in a paper on a research on "Institutional and Traditional
Land Management Practices" at a seminar at Yendi at the weekend.
The programme was organised by Radio Justice, a Tamale-FM radio
station with support from the BUSAC fund to dialogue on the land
tenure system in the Northern Region.It was to find ways of improving
farming in the three northern regions.The seminar on the theme,
"Transparency in the distribution of farm land as an instrument of
farm promotion in the Northern Region" was also to promote
understanding about customary land administration and to help improve
institutional and customary practices to ensure transparency.
Dr Dogbe said the practice made it almost impossible to control
Fulani herdsmen whose animals destroyed farm crops.Dr Dobge called for
the training of community leaders in basic methods in land management
such as titling, registration and valuation, adding that, offices
should be established to take care of mapping, developing and proper
use of community farm lands to ensure equity in allocation to family
members.He appealed to farmers particularly those in the Northern
Region to improve their practices for sedentary agriculture to ensure
improved soil fertility.Dr Dobge advised them to engage in crop
rotation, introduction of legumes into the cropping system, growing of
pastures, re-forestation and control factors that contributed to land
degradation.
Alhaji Mohammad Habib Tijani, Yendi District Chief Executive
(DCE), said the district was not receiving enough investment in
agriculture due to the challenges involved in the land acquisition
processes, which led to land disputes.He said the district had fertile
land suitable for a variety of crops and called on the youth to take
to farming to reduce poverty in the area.
Small ruminants and ranching, teak, cashew and mango cultivation
should also be undertaken on a commercial scale to alleviate poverty
in the area.Alhaji Tijani commended the Radio Station for conducting a
comprehensive research on farm management in the Northern Region
particularly in the Yendi locality.
He stressed the need to fund and apply such research findings to
improve farming.
Mr Issah Nasigre, Northern Regional Director of National
Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), said noted that increasing
population pressure on agricultural practices had made land inadequate
and unavailable for the best method of farming.He said if proper
measures were not put in place to control land acquisition and
utilisation, farming would be very difficult for the poor since almost
every piece of land had an owner.
04 Mar 07