Assessing the Implications of Agricultural Mechanisation for Customary Land Tenure Relations in the Transitional Zone, Ghana

Agricultural mechanisation promotes continuous cultivation on a piece of land and expansion of the area under cultivation, thereby intensifying competition for land. This impacts the land tenure system based on customary land tenure and communal landholding that thrived under land fallowing. Situate...

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Main Authors: Kwasi Sarfo, Bernard Okoampah Otu, Michael Atakro
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2025-04-01
Series:Africa Spectrum
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397241290533
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author Kwasi Sarfo
Bernard Okoampah Otu
Michael Atakro
author_facet Kwasi Sarfo
Bernard Okoampah Otu
Michael Atakro
author_sort Kwasi Sarfo
collection DOAJ
description Agricultural mechanisation promotes continuous cultivation on a piece of land and expansion of the area under cultivation, thereby intensifying competition for land. This impacts the land tenure system based on customary land tenure and communal landholding that thrived under land fallowing. Situated within the evolutionary theory of land rights and adopting an empirical qualitative research approach, this paper examines the effects of agricultural mechanisation on customary land tenure relations in Ghana's Transitional Zone. The paper argues that the widespread adoption of agricultural mechanisation has led to farm extensification and intensification which have engendered intense competition and conflicts over land and trends towards individual landholding. This has provided the arsenals for manipulation by the powerful in society and ushering in a new form of customary land tenure relations that replaces traditional social relations with capitalist relations and creates tension between allodial rights holders and the usufructuary and customary tenancy rights holders
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spelling doaj-art-278ba53aedd04ecab882f3aae93a02612025-08-20T03:18:22ZengSAGE PublishingAfrica Spectrum0002-03971868-68692025-04-016010.1177/00020397241290533Assessing the Implications of Agricultural Mechanisation for Customary Land Tenure Relations in the Transitional Zone, GhanaKwasi Sarfo0Bernard Okoampah Otu1Michael Atakro2 Centre for African Studies, , Cape Town, South Africa Department of General Studies, , Koforidua, Ghana Department of General Studies, , Koforidua, GhanaAgricultural mechanisation promotes continuous cultivation on a piece of land and expansion of the area under cultivation, thereby intensifying competition for land. This impacts the land tenure system based on customary land tenure and communal landholding that thrived under land fallowing. Situated within the evolutionary theory of land rights and adopting an empirical qualitative research approach, this paper examines the effects of agricultural mechanisation on customary land tenure relations in Ghana's Transitional Zone. The paper argues that the widespread adoption of agricultural mechanisation has led to farm extensification and intensification which have engendered intense competition and conflicts over land and trends towards individual landholding. This has provided the arsenals for manipulation by the powerful in society and ushering in a new form of customary land tenure relations that replaces traditional social relations with capitalist relations and creates tension between allodial rights holders and the usufructuary and customary tenancy rights holdershttps://doi.org/10.1177/00020397241290533
spellingShingle Kwasi Sarfo
Bernard Okoampah Otu
Michael Atakro
Assessing the Implications of Agricultural Mechanisation for Customary Land Tenure Relations in the Transitional Zone, Ghana
Africa Spectrum
title Assessing the Implications of Agricultural Mechanisation for Customary Land Tenure Relations in the Transitional Zone, Ghana
title_full Assessing the Implications of Agricultural Mechanisation for Customary Land Tenure Relations in the Transitional Zone, Ghana
title_fullStr Assessing the Implications of Agricultural Mechanisation for Customary Land Tenure Relations in the Transitional Zone, Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the Implications of Agricultural Mechanisation for Customary Land Tenure Relations in the Transitional Zone, Ghana
title_short Assessing the Implications of Agricultural Mechanisation for Customary Land Tenure Relations in the Transitional Zone, Ghana
title_sort assessing the implications of agricultural mechanisation for customary land tenure relations in the transitional zone ghana
url https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397241290533
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AT michaelatakro assessingtheimplicationsofagriculturalmechanisationforcustomarylandtenurerelationsinthetransitionalzoneghana