Transforming land of discord into pillar of social harmony

Known by various names such as the “West African Eldorado”, the “land of hospitality”, the “second homeland”, the “country for all”, and the “land where everything grows”, Côte d’Ivoire stands as the world's leading producer of cocoa, cashew, cola nuts, and more. These diverse names find their roots in the generosity of its soil. While Ivorians historically offered this rich and benevolent land as gifts and token of hospitality to their “brothers” from neighboring countries and migrants until the 1990s, the aftermath of the 2010-2011 post-electoral crisis has cast rural land conflicts as a backdrop to human tragedies and deep divisions threatening the nation's peace and security. The once generous land has become a source of discord.

In Bécédi-Brignan, a cosmopolitan village located about 140 km north of Abidjan, Adou Yapi Félix, the village chief, recalls: “We used to receive and adjudicate an average of three to five land dispute cases per week”. The situation is even more complex in the west of the country, bordering Guinea and Liberia, severely affected by the crisis and clashes over land have led to violence and deaths. “The fire smolders beneath the ashes” says Bamba Cheick Daniel, Director of the Rural Land Agency (AFOR). The former Minister of Territorial Administration, tasked in 2016 by the government to manage rural land, sees in these land disputes the seeds of a conflict with devastating consequences for Cote d’Ivoire.

41,000 land certificates and contracts signed.

Until 2018, the country provided 4,600 land certificates (1%) against hundreds of millions of hectares of land. A few months after the AFOR operationalization, the Ivorian authorities launched the Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (PAMOFOR) with the overarching goal of issuing 53,400 land certificates to landowners or tenants, delineate 400 villages, and facilitate the signing of 10,000 land use contracts between landowners and non-owner agricultural operators.

However, two major obstacles stood in the way: the existing four-step process showed its limitations and proved costly, in addition to the thorny issue of other nationals who had been using lands they didn’t own, for several years.

With technical support and a 50 million dollars funding from the World Bank through the International Development Association (IDA), PAMOFOR introduced the '4 in 1' approach, eliminating fees, training over 10,000 land agents, and engaging with populations about the importance of securing their lands. Between 2018 and 2023, over 41,000 landholders received either a land certificate (for owners) or a formal land use contract, benefitting an estimated 190,000 people in their households. It now takes half as much time to deliver a land record than in past years. Beyond a simple land security mission, PAMOFOR has become an “instrument for social cohesion,” says Zorro Armelle Yougone, sub-prefect of Yakassé-Attobrou, and helping solve conflicts within families and communities.

The agrarian contract: a guarantee of security and cohesion

According to village chiefs like Niangoran Abodo from Aboudé Mandéké, “Before, people didn't want to demarcate their lands because they couldn’t afford to pay the excessive land paper amount.” Now, in the central part of the country “scores are rushing to obtain a land certificate”, says Nguessan Kouassi, chairman of the Village Committee for Rural Land Management of Bocanda. Ouedraogo Mahamadi, a landowner, and migrant from Burkina Faso, explains: “Our parents had tried, but when we were told the amount we had to pay, everyone gave up. Now thanks to World Bank support, we were able to do it, so we are really happy.”

To end regular conflicts between land-owning natives and migrants, PAMOFOR promotes a land use contract. As Kotia Kotia, an agricultural operator who recently signed such a contract, says: “It's a very important document because farming business is not a matter of 2 or 3 days but rather an investment of at least 10 to 15 years that needs to be secured.”

A mini revolution for women

“Until a very recent past, women did not have the right to inherit land from their parents, and even when our husbands died, we did not have the right to inherit their plantations. Their younger brothers would snatch them away, leaving us and our children without assistance”, recalls Kouadio Brou Lucie, now a landowner. Like this 50-year-old cocoa farmer, women see this as economic power, a guarantee of empowerment and freedom. “It's this paper I have received that motivates me to work even harder. In any case, I can do whatever I want. I am free at last,” said 45-year-old and mother of four, Kadje Solange. Like Solange and Lucie, a third of 20,000 owners are women.

The Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project in Côte d'Ivoire was a pilot for six regions out of 31: Bafing, Mé, Agnéby-Tiassa, Indénié-Djuablin, N’Zi, and Sud-Comoé. Although limited in space, this promising initiative offers a glimpse of the significant transformations underway in rural Côte d'Ivoire. In response to strong demand from both the populations of other regions and the Ivorian authorities, the World Bank will support a new land tenure security project from 2024, covering half of the country's regions. The objective is to issue over 500,000 new land certificates and 250,000 contracts, benefiting some 6.2 million people.