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Outside the autochthon-migrant configuration: access to land, land conflicts and inter-ethnic relationships in a former pioneer area of lower Côte d'Ivoire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2007

Jean-Philippe Colin ,
Georges Kouamé  and
Débégnoun Soro
Jean-Philippe Colin
Affiliation:
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement & UMR MOÏSA, Montpellier.
Georges Kouamé
Affiliation:
Institut d'Ethno-Sociologie, Université de Cocody, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Débégnoun Soro
Affiliation:
Institut d'Ethno-Sociologie, Université de Cocody, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
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Abstract

This paper discusses land issues in a specific Ivorian context: that of a former no man's land located in lower Côte d'Ivoire. In this region, one does not find the autochthon-migrant dichotomy that generally structures the land issue in southern Côte d'Ivoire. This situation therefore offers an opportunity to document the conditions of access to land and inter-ethnic relationships in a situation characterised by the lack of autochthonous stakeholders. In this context, land rights and land transfers have been moulded by the interplay between migration flows, the dynamics of the smallholder plantation economy, and the rise of land markets. The picture that results is a patchwork, in terms of ethnic land control, where land rights are quite secure. The crucial land issue arises from the active land lease market, with a large acreage of land rented out to Burkinabè pineapple producers – again, without major conflicts. This situation is contrasted with the neighbouring Abouré country, where a conflict over tenancy practices arose in 2001.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , January 2007 , pp. 33 - 59
Copyright
2006 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

This research has been funded by IRD and by the European project CLAIMS (Changes in Land Access, Institutions and Markets in West Africa). The authors thank Tom Bassett, Jean-Pierre Chauveau, Robert Hunt, Pierre-Yves Le Meur, Pauline Peters, the participants in the African Studies Association Conference in Boston (30 October–2 November 2003) and in the World Congress of Rural Sociology in Trondheim, Norway (25–30 July 2004), as well as an anonymous referee, for helpful comments on preliminary versions of the paper.