The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has canvassed the urgent need for amendment of the Land Use Act as a strategic option for improving agricultural productivity and by implication, assure food security in the country.
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| Audu Ogbeh |
He stated this in the Ministry’s Policy and Strategy Document even as hinted that one of the primary objectives of the government’s Agricultural Promotion Policy was the need to amend Land Use Act.
Ogbeh said: “Land is a vital input for agricultural production, and regulated access to it is critical. A key issue is land title and tenure, which define the conditions and rules guiding the right to hold a piece of land for one purpose or another.
“About 95 per cent of agricultural lands are not titled, effectively nullifying their capacity to be treated as collateral for financial transactions,’’ the minister added.
According to him, experiences have shown that one of the key constraints to land ownership is the time-consuming and expensive process of securing and perfecting title.
While noting that the implementation of policies does not do enough to ensure inclusion of women in agriculture, another issue for serious concern is the fact that there is also a gender bias in access to land that makes it very difficult for women to access it.
Other challenges the minister listed as constituting hurdles to people accessing land for farming are, land grabbing in communities and unclear rules and governance regarding management of land for use in farming versus grazing for nomadic cattle population.
He clarified: “We want to facilitate the recognition and entitlement of land ownership by formal and customary means to assist collateralisation. We also want policies that create a transparent, liquid market for agricultural land, improving likelihood of land being used as collateral.
“Land rights that incentivise small farmers to invest in their land and raise their productivity are our target, among others,’’ the minister added.
The minister lamented that even when the Land Use Act provided that state governors should hold land in trust for the people, some communities with vast arable land were making access to such land extremely difficult.
According to him, this unsavoury development accounts for why potential investors are finding it difficult to acquire land for agricultural investment.
Ogbeh explained further that in some cases, bureaucracy constituted big obstacles to land allocation, even when community where such land is situated has consented to its acquisition for farming or agricultural produce processing.
Despite the challenges, the minister pointed out that some states had simplified the process of land allocation and issuance of certificates of occupancy as a means of attracting investments into their domains.
He urged other states to follow the steps of the few states by ensuring that all obstacles to land access in their domains are removed through appropriate policy measures.
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