READ THE MADAGASCAR REPORT ON WOMEN’S ACCESS TO LAND IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS
WOMEN'S LAND RIGHTS IN MADAGASCAR
In Madagascar, as in other African countries, securing access to and control over land is a key issue of economic development, poverty reduction and household and national food security. “Land is of crucial importance to the economies and societies of the region, contributing a major share of GDP and employment in most countries, and constituting the main livelihood basis for a large portion of the population.” (Cotula, Toulmin and Hess: 2004:1) (See also Thalgott: 2009 :4). More than 80% of the Malagasy population live in rural areas, which means that their main source of income and basis of survival is agriculture. Ramarolanto Ratiaray (1989) argues that securing farmers’ access to land is one way to improve food security for Madagascar, which is currently food insecure, and thereby improve the overall economic situation. Access to and control over land is therefore important to ensure better lives, for both men and women.
The land question in Madagascar is marked by great political changes which have occured since the 19th century. As in many other African countries that were colonised, land in Madagascar is subject to plural tenure systems in which a small portion of the land (estimated at about 10%) is registered and held in exclusive private ownership based on French property law, while most of the land, presumed in law to be owned by the state, is in fact occupied and ownership conferred through locally legitimate processes derived from custom. Malagasy citizens have thus seldom resorted to registration, a land process inspired by the “Torrens Act”1, and customary rights to access and control over land have continued to survive and evolve beside statutory laws. Indeed, in many locations in Madagascar, custom is still more powerful than statutory law in shaping access, use and transfer of land, and the underlying titles have been ignored.
