Using registration to secure land rights in Mozambique

With increased pressure on land in Africa, many governments have introduced laws to assist land registration. The aim is to improve the land security of poorer farmers and encourage partnerships with investors. Governments must ensure this does not just benefit wealthier, better-informed groups.

Research from University Eduardo Mondlanein Mozambique examines land registration in the Nambulaand Zambezia provinces of Mozambique. The authorslook at the effects of individual and community land registration and discusswhether these processes benefit wealthier people more than poor and vulnerablegroups.

In Mozambique, there are many informal documents for landownership. In many cases, however, these are not legally binding. The 1997 LandLaw is an attempt to make land ownership documents more formal and help poorcommunities to build partnerships with investors.

The new law covers both individual and community landregistration. Individual citizens who have occupied land for more than 10 yearshave the rights to it, and may proceed with registration. Communities can alsoregister their lands. Community lands defined as having ‘open boundaries’ canbe developed by external investors after community consultations.

While land registration is not supposed to disadvantagepoor people, there are serious problems in the design and implementation ofthis process. Key findings include:

• Consultations between individuals wanting todevelop land and local communities have been inadequate. These consultationsoften lead to accusations that the process has been used to rob peasants oftheir land.
• Some of the land being registered is not used ordeveloped as promised.
• Land authorities have insufficient resources tosupervise land registration and use.
• The process of defining community lands mayinvolve several organisations and communities. This often leads tomisunderstandings and conflicts that can slow down registration.
• Finances for land registration are limited,especially if donors give their funds to governments.
• Non-governmental organisations pushing for landrights for poor people risk forcing processes too quickly. They are alsoresistant to opportunities to develop land through investment and raisecommunity expectations too much.

Since registration began, there have been no obviousbenefits, except that community organisation has increased. Individualregistration has been very limited; community registration appears to be abetter option for low-income groups to reinforce their land security. Toimprove land registration processes, the authors recommend that policymakers:

• increase community consultations in allapplications to register and acquire land
• strengthen the frequency of visits by state landauthorities to supervise registration processes
• find ways to reduce the costs for individualland registration
• promote rural development activities after landregistration to keep people involved in local decisions
• improve and expandstate services, particularly in remote rural areas: education would boostawareness of land rights and natural resources management.