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Political economy analysis of land reforms In MALAWI SINCE 1994 A paper presented AT THE Urban net meeting on October 2, 2014 ( Held At Action Aid Malawi in Lilongwe) By Harun Juma Email: hassanaubi@gmail.com. WHY DO WE NEED A LAND REFORM IN MALAWI
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Political economy analysis of land reforms In MALAWI SINCE 1994 A paper presented AT THE Urban net meeting on October 2, 2014 (Held At Action Aid Malawi in Lilongwe) By Harun JumaEmail: hassanaubi@gmail.com
WHY DO WE NEED A LAND REFORM IN MALAWI • Agriculture is a major source of livelihood in rural areas & a tool for economic growth and poverty reduction in • More than 80% of Malawians earn their livelihoods from agriculture • 55% of smallholder farmers cultivate less than a hectare • Yet30,000 estates are cultivating between 10 to 500 hectares. • And about 28% of the country’s cultivable arable land (about 2.6 million hectares) under freehold, lies idle in the rural areas • Strong land laws will help to facilitate proper urban development
WHY ANALYSIS FROM 1994 • 1994 democratization was a critical juncture offering some policy windows – e.g. Land reform • Most Malawian had the expectations that the question of land will be solved completely • Political parties used land reform as a campaign tool
WHAT HAPPENED AFTER 1994? • Land reform was initiated by the UDF government (1994) • It passed on to the DDP led government in • (2004-2009) • To the PP led government (2009-2014) • Today is almost 20 years in Democracy and nothing tangible has happened! • A land bill was just passed last year (Land Bill 2013)
WHY IS LAND REFORM STILL HANGING? • It is because of lack of political will? • No? Its beyond political Will • We need to do a political economy analysis
WHAT IS POLITICAL ECONOMY • Political economy analysis focuses on the interaction between politics and economics. • It examines the influence of economics and politics in development interventions • Politics: power and distribution of resources • Economics: production, allocation and consumption
NATURE OF REFORM: Pro Poor Or Pro rich LAND REFORM PROCESS
Implications OF LACK OF LAND REFOMS ON URBAN DEVELOPMENT • Scarcity of land in rural areas is a push factor for people to migrate to urban areas - a livelihood coping strategy >> congested settlements • There is a link between the nature of laws governing land and infrastructure being developed >>poor tenure systems is one of the factors hindering the efficient growth of cities in developing countries- Dawall and Clarke
- Cont’d • Poor settlements promotes inefficient land use and accelerates land scarcity issues in urban areas • Vulnerability: Unsecure land rights especially among urban poor
Conclusion • Land reform in Malawi is caught in competing objectives between the state and private sector on one hand and local communities on the other • The poor man and the poor woman are the losers • Most importantly the prospects of a well planned urban development are being stifled