African Studies Center - TUFS (ASC-TUFS) will hold the 46th ASC Seminar on December 12, 2019. This is jointly organized by Kanto branch of Japan Association for African Studies and African Weeks 2019 Commitee. The speaker is Prof. Kojo Sebastian Amanor, our visiting professor.

In the seminar, he will discuss about the framework of land administrative reform in Ghana and the impact of increasing commercialization of agriculture on land transactions, alienation, and rural rights in land.

◆Title: Land Administrative Reform and Commercial Agriculture in Ghana

◆Speaker: Prof. Kojo Sebastian Amanor
　　　　　　(Visiting Professor, African Studies Center - TUFS / Professor, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana)

◆Abstract: Land tenure has been a major focus of governance reforms since the 1990s. The two main stated aims of recent land tenure reform are to: 1) create efficient and transparent land markets in which investors can easily gain access to land; and 2) safeguard the land rights of smallholder farmers or of the community. Since the majority of land in Africa lies under customary rights, one of the main aims of land reform is to create a harmonisation between customary and statutory forms in which customary rights become officially recorded, thus enabling greater information on claims on land. This has been articulated as creating community-based solutions that guarantee the rights of local communities. However, the needs of investors often create pressures for land sales, which can result in expropriation of small farmers, unless there is a much lower requirement for land among rural communities than the availability of land. In practice the expansion of commercial agriculture in many areas has led to continued appropriation of land, including large-scale acquisitions by foreign companies. This presentation examines the framework of land administrative reform in Ghana and the impact of increasing commercialisation of agriculture on land transactions, alienation, and rural rights in land.

◆Date & Time: Thursday, December 12, 2019 5:40 - 7:10 pm

◆Venue: Room 104, Research and Lecture Building, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

◆Language: English

◆Admission: Free

◆No pre-registration is needed.

◆Jointly organized by African Studies Center - TUFS, Kanto branch of Japan Association for African Studies, and African Weeks 2019 Committee