• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

Researchers say rising land inequality threatens livelihood of smallholder farmers

Rivers civil society coalition demands evidence of N16BN agric investment allocation in 2020

New research citing evidence in 17 commissioned papers and analysis of existing data as well as literature shows that land inequality is accelerating – thus, threatening livelihoods of about 2.5 billion people globally involved in smallholder agriculture.

The research findings shed new light on the scale and speed of growing land inequality, especially in rural communities, in a report that highlights the impact of land inequality.

The report says that land inequality is significantly underestimated with findings showing that the wealthiest 10percent of rural populations capture 60percent of agricultural land value, while the poorest 50percent – who depend more on farming capture only 3percent.

“Our findings show an increase in rural land inequality of 41 percent when agric land value and landlessness are taken into account,” said the report.

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“Beyond its direct effects on smallholder agriculture, it is clear that land inequality undermines stability and the development of sustainable societies,” the report further said.

“Smallholders and family farms, indigenous people, rural women, youth, and landless rural communities are being squeezed into smaller parcels of land, while more and more land is concentrated in fewer hands,” the report added.

According to the report, unemployment and reduced incomes are further results of land inequality, with critical implications for developing countries that have large youth populations such as Nigeria.

The report added that despite land centrality to so many global challenges and its importance in securing equitable land rights in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) inequality to land rights and its benefits has been on the increase.

The report estimated that there are 608 million farms global with family farms accounting for the bulk.

However, it says the largest one percent of farms operate more than 70percent of the world’s farmland and are integrated into the corporate food system, while over 80percent are smallholdings of less than two hectares that are generally excluded from global food chains.

The report states that land inequality in countries sampled in Asia and Africa increases proportionally more when land value and landless populations are included, adding that Africa has the lowest levels of land area inequality among landowners.

In laying out the cause and consequences of land inequality, the reports noted that due to the distinctive characteristics of the land as a fixed asset that cannot self-regulate, its market has become that of exclusion and concentration where inequalities steadily increase.

It added that abolishing all forms of market and entrusting the management of land only to states and governments is not a solution to addressing land inequality.

To fix the problem, the report recommended greater regulations, better environmental management, and greater support for community land rights.