Stakeholders demand expeditious passage of large-scale land acquisition regulation

Stakeholders in the land sector have called for an expeditious passage of regulations to guide large-scale land-based investment (LBI) in the country.

This would help address challenges associated with large-scale land acquisition and also protect the interest of local communities. They also said that although the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036) had put a cap on the size of land that could be traded at the local customary authorities, there was the urgent need to get the legislative instrument (L.I) to give real meaning to the law.

The call was made at a consultative workshop organised by the Land Sector Multi-Stakeholder Platform (LSMSP) Secretariat of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, in collaboration with the Lands Commission, SNV Ghana — an international NGO, and other stakeholders.

In attendance were traditional rulers, farmer groups, land sector policymakers, representatives of the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands (OASL) and assembly members, among others.

The workshop was meant to receive inputs of participants to develop the L.I for the implementation of the provisions of Act 1036 that border on large-scale LBI, among other objectives.

New dawn

A member of the LSMSP committee, Nana  Ama Yirrah, said the fundamental challenge the new Land Act would address after the passage of the L.I was scope and scale of large-scale land acquisition that customary authorities could handle.

She said per the new Land Act, lands in residential areas that exceeded 20 acres required approval from the state before transaction could be executed, while those in non-residential areas had been capped at 50 acres.

Ms Yirrah, therefore, said that it was important for the L.I for Act 1036 to be passed as soon as possible.

“Historically and traditionally, customary authorities are used to giving out two acres, five acres or 10 acres of land, so negotiating that has been effective.

“With the current trend, the land sizes have gone beyond what we are used to. Some acquire 2,000 acres, and I have even seen some that is about 26,000 acres.

“To be able to handle such a size of investment requires technical knowledge and commercial background, which in many cases, is not easily available within the traditional areas. So, we end up having large-scale transactions whose benefit to communities are not commensurate with the impact,” she added. 

Transformative investments

The Agriculture Sector Multi-country project manager, Dr Divine Odame Appiah, said large-scale acquisition of land in forestry and the agricultural sector had to be transformative, sustainable as well as gender and socially inclusive to ensure food security.

He said it was in that regard that the consultative workshop sought to push for the expedited development of an L.I for the implementation of the Land Act, especially sections that deal with large-scale land acquisition.

“A delay in the drafting of the L.I will delay the process of implementation of the Land Act. When implemented, it will cure the detrimental effects of large-scale land acquisition on smallholder farmers,” the manager added. 

Benefits

The Paramount Queen of Ningo Traditional Area, Naana Dugbakuwor Dugba II, said the speedy development of the regulations would help bring sanity and fairness to the LBI space.

Naana Dugba II, who is also a member of the Queen Mothers Platform, said the LI on LBI would particularly benefit women and marginalised groups who often suffered the most from large-scale land acquisition.