[ Aménagement agraire et insécurité foncière dans la vallée de Zio au sud du Togo ]
Volume 4, Issue 1, September 2013, Pages 133–140
Gnakou Ali Pitaloumani1
1 Département de sociologie, Université de Lomé (UL) /FLESH, Lomé, Togo
Original language: French
Copyright © 2013 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The development of farming area for agro-economic production improves the local exploitation system by introducing new productive forces in terms of equipments. The agricultural development of lands in this process calls for multiple actors in relation to land, and having opposing interests. The promotion of the development of agriculture production structures, and the economic interests that this reinforces, makes the landowning and its conservation the main stakes of production relations. This study describes the insecurity of landowning in the Zio valley, south of Togo, in terms of a fight generated by the discontinuity between the development of farming areas and land reform. The area has been subject to a country planning project in the past which could not lead to the security in landowning by a reform which would take into account the interests of different actors. After the end of the project, this situation has reinforced the power of landowners who use their position to increase their interests. The issues related to the preservation of the existing power struggle, having access to land and to its control are at the source of the strategies opposing the owners to the farmers, as well as among the farmers themselves. The land insecurity stems therefore from the strategies of the actors for the control of the resource that land represents in a context marked by the absence of a right of possession reform.
Author Keywords: Agrarian development, Right of land possession, Land insecurity, Agricultural production report, Strategy of the actors.
Volume 4, Issue 1, September 2013, Pages 133–140
Gnakou Ali Pitaloumani1
1 Département de sociologie, Université de Lomé (UL) /FLESH, Lomé, Togo
Original language: French
Copyright © 2013 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The development of farming area for agro-economic production improves the local exploitation system by introducing new productive forces in terms of equipments. The agricultural development of lands in this process calls for multiple actors in relation to land, and having opposing interests. The promotion of the development of agriculture production structures, and the economic interests that this reinforces, makes the landowning and its conservation the main stakes of production relations. This study describes the insecurity of landowning in the Zio valley, south of Togo, in terms of a fight generated by the discontinuity between the development of farming areas and land reform. The area has been subject to a country planning project in the past which could not lead to the security in landowning by a reform which would take into account the interests of different actors. After the end of the project, this situation has reinforced the power of landowners who use their position to increase their interests. The issues related to the preservation of the existing power struggle, having access to land and to its control are at the source of the strategies opposing the owners to the farmers, as well as among the farmers themselves. The land insecurity stems therefore from the strategies of the actors for the control of the resource that land represents in a context marked by the absence of a right of possession reform.
Author Keywords: Agrarian development, Right of land possession, Land insecurity, Agricultural production report, Strategy of the actors.
Abstract: (french)
L'aménagement de l'espace agraire pour la production agro-économique améliore le système d'exploitation local par l'introduction de nouvelles forces productives matérielles. La mise en valeur agricole des terres dans ce processus met en œuvre multiples acteurs différents par le statut foncier des parcelles exploitées, leur rapport à la terre et poursuivant des intérêts opposés. Ce processus favorise le développement des structures de production agricole. Mais les intérêts économiques qu'il renforce font de l'accès au foncier et de sa conservation, les principaux enjeux des rapports de production. La présente étude décrit l'insécurité foncière dans la vallée de Zio au sud du Togo comme une instabilité des rapports fonciers et du droit d'exploitation agricole résultant de luttes engendrées par la discontinuité entre le processus d'aménagement et la réforme foncière. La zone a bénéficié d'anciens projets d'aménagement qui n'ont pas pu aboutir à la sécurisation foncière par une réforme prenant en compte les intérêts des différents acteurs. Après la fin du dernier projet, cette situation a renforcé le pouvoir des propriétaires fonciers qui utilisent leur position pour accroître leurs intérêts. Les enjeux de préservation des rapports de force existants, d'accès à la terre et de son contrôle sont à l'origine des stratégies qui opposent les propriétaires et exploitants ainsi que les exploitants entre eux. L'insécurité foncière résulte ainsi des stratégies des acteurs pour le contrôle de la ressource que représente la terre dans un contexte marqué par l'absence de réforme du droit foncier.
Author Keywords: Aménagement agraire, Droit foncier, Insécurité foncière, Rapport de production agricole, Stratégie des acteurs.
How to Cite this Article
Gnakou Ali Pitaloumani, “Development of farming area and insecurity of land owning in the Zio valley, South of Togo,” International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 133–140, September 2013.
