Country profiles of land tenure : Africa 1986

The profiles range in length from 2 to 8 pages depending on the availability of information and the importance of land tenure issues in a particular country. Each profile covers three major topics - land tenure systems, land administration, and tenure issues affecting national (especially agricultural) policy. Due to the dependence on published sources, the profiles generally contain far more information on government policies, legislation, and implementation than they do on more basic, long-term evolutionary patterns of land tenure. Certain broad trends in land tenure evolution and policy do emerge, however. These are discussed briefly in an introductory section which concludes that a pragmatic approach to land tenure changes is apparently more successful than is legislation to enact a particular economic theory. A hypothetical land tenure map, thought to be the first of its kind, is also presented.