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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Fulani Pastoralists, Indigenous Farmers and the Contest for Land in Northern Ghana
Author:Tonah, SteveISNI
Year:2002
Periodical:Afrika Spectrum
Volume:37
Issue:1
Pages:43-59
Language:English
Geographic term:Ghana
Subjects:Fulani
land use
agricultural land
animal husbandry
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Development and Technology
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Ethnic and Race Relations
Abstract:This paper analyses the land tenure system and the social and economic setting under which migrant Fulani pastoralists and the indigenous farming population (local Brong as well as migrant farmers from different ethnic groups) obtain farmland and pasture in northern Ghana. The relationship between the two groups is also discussed in detail. Generally, the destruction of crops by cattle and the rampant loss of cattle to rustlers are identified as responsible for the deteriorating farmer-herdsman relationship. The tense relationship is also heightened by increased competition for the most fertile land along the banks of the Volta lake. Rising conflicts between farmers and pastoralists in northern Ghana have led to the intervention of both the national and local government authorities, ostensibly to maintain law and order and to keep the pastoralists out of the area. Local government officials have also attempted to usurp the powers of traditional landowners and chiefs by restricting their right to allocate land to the pastoralists. They have threatened to prosecute chiefs who continue to rent land to the Fulani. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in French, German and English.
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