Immigration, land transfer and tenure changes in Divo, Ivory Coast, 1940–80

Africa ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Hecht

Opening ParagraphThe relationship between land tenure forms and the twentieth-century transformation of agriculture throughout much of Africa from a strong subsistence to a market orientation – and from food crop production to predominantly export crop production – is a topic of great importance both to Africanists and to policy-makers. From a scholarly perspective, contemporary Africa presents an unusual opportunity to study dramatic changes in land use and especially in land tenure, similar to changes which took place in other parts of the world as commercial farming developed. From a policy-maker's point of view, too, the current shift in land tenure has major implications for possible government measures affecting security of tenure and land distribution – and, in turn, patterns of agricultural investment, productivity and output.


Africa ◽  
1931 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 314-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. P. Mair

Opening ParagraphOf all the problems of policy which confront colonial administrations, the question of land alienation is the most fundamental and the most pressing. Colonization is meaningless apart from the provision of land for the colonist to live upon; and from the colonist's point of view it is unattractive unless land is provided in large quantities. But since no African colony—and least of all any desirable tract of land in Africa—is entirely uninhabited, the problem immediately becomes that of reconciling conflicting claims. The first duty of every colonial government is to formulate the principles upon which this adjustment shall be made. Whether or not its initial step is to declare that all land belongs to the Crown is of comparatively little relevance; for in any case it is the white government which decides what shall be done with it. The use of another formula does no more than express an intention; it cannot give the native a power which he loses irremediably as soon as colonial government comes into being.



2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Toendepi Shonhe

The reinvestment of rural agrarian surplus is driving capital accumulation in Zimbabwe's countryside, providing a scope to foster national (re-) industrialisation and job creation. Contrary to Bernstein's view, the Agrarian Question on capital remains unresolved in Southern Africa. Even though export finance, accessed through contract farming, provides an impetus for export cash crop production, and the government-mediated command agriculture supports food crop production, the reinvestment of proceeds from the sale of agricultural commodities is now driving capital accumulation. Drawing from empirical data, gathered through surveys and in-depth interviews from Hwedza district and Mvurwi farming area in Mazowe district in Zimbabwe, the findings of this study revealed the pre-eminence of the Agrarian Question, linked to an ongoing agrarian transition in Zimbabwe. This agrarian capital elaborates rural-urban interconnections and economic development, following two decades of de-industrialisation in Zimbabwe. 



1988 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-218
Author(s):  
Luther Tweeten

The authors describe how Pakistan has grappled with land reform, surely one of the most intractable and divisive issues facing agriculture anywhere. The land-tenure system at independence in 1947 included a high degree of land ownership concentration, absentee landlordism, insecurity of tenant tenure, and excessive rent. Land reform since 1947 focused on imposition of ceilings on landholding, distribution of land to landless tenants and small owners, and readjustments of contracts to improve the position of the tenant. These reformist measures have removed some but by no means all of the undesirable characteristics of the system. The authors list as well as present a critique of the reports of five official committees and commissions on land reform. The reports highlight the conflicts and ideologies of the reformers. The predominant ideal of the land reformers is a system of peasant proprietorship although some reformers favoured other systems such as communal farming and state ownership of land, and still others favoured cash rents over share rents. More pragmatic reformers recognized that tenancy is likely to be with Pakistan for the foreseeable future and that the batai (sharecropping) arrangement is the most workable system. According to the editors, the batai system can work to the advantage of landlord and tenant if the ceilings on landholding can be sufficiently lowered (and enforced), the security of the tenant is ensured, and the tenant has recourse to the courts for adjudication of disputes with landlords. Many policy-makers in Pakistan have come to accept that position but intervention by the State to realize the ideal has been slow. The editors conclude that" ... the end result of these land reforms is that they have not succeeded in significantly changing the status quo in rural Pakistan" (p. 29).



2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-100
Author(s):  
Yashwant Kumar Vaid ◽  
Vikram Singh ◽  
Monika Sethi

Finance plays a key role in the growth of developed as well as developing nations. A financially well included society leads to stronger growth. Financial inclusion aims at providing easy and affordable access to financial products and services. The main concern for any developing nation from a growth point of view is advancement of low-income rural population just as much as the high-income population. Taking a note of this, identifying the key determinants that would lead to successful financial inclusion of low-income rural population is equally, if not more, important. The inclusion strategies have to be built around these determinants to promote inclusion and thus, a clear picture of these determinants is a must have for strategy and policy makers. Though the factors may be somewhat similar across the nation, but their significance and impact on financial inclusion varies greatly from one geographical area to other. In line with this, the purpose of this study is to identify the dimensions of successful financial inclusion in the low-income rural segments with special reference to Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The study uses factor analysis to identify the determinants and path analysis to analyse the significance of these factors in financial inclusion.



Author(s):  
E. Kharitonova

The article focuses on the task of measuring and evaluating a state's soft power. While the soft power concept developed by Joseph Nye is currently widely accepted and used, its theoretical understanding and practical application remains challenging. Both international relations scholars and those responsible for soft power in governmental and non-state agencies are looking for the tools to assess their work and the country's standing in the world in terms of soft power. As the author of the concept and other researchers noted, evaluation and measurement may be difficult due to the number of influencing factors including the use of hard power that can overshadow soft power efforts, and also because soft power efforts can bring results only in a distant period of time. However, in response to the researchers' and policy makers' need to evaluate, measure and compare soft power related parameters, a number of international ratings evolved during the past several years, such as various ratings of soft power, nation brands, countries' reputation and presence. At the same time, such rankings have several weaknesses. First of all, they present mainly the western point of view which focuses on the parameters important for western audiences and may overlook characteristics important for other, non-western cultures. They also may be subjective due to financial reasons. Besides that, while some of the ratings aim to evaluate resources or assets of nations' soft power, other focus on results like influence or reputation. Evaluation of instruments used to enhance a country's soft power and their effectiveness is also important. In many cases, even significant resources of soft power do not guarantee strong positions in this context. Comparing certain countries' positions in different ratings helps to understand a country's standing in terms of soft power, identify strong sides and analyze whether a state's soft power potential transforms into the desired outcomes.



Author(s):  
Kong Qingjiang

China is upgrading its bilateral investment treaties (BITs), and in the meantime embracing free trade agreements (FTAs), which can be accommodated to offer international investment rules (IIRs). A specific question in this regard will be: shall the investment issues be left to the upgraded BIT or proposed FTA? Given the trend that the investment rules embodied in the FTAs are increasingly intended to replace BITs between contracting states, this question, which poses a preliminary issue to the trade policy-makers of China and its partners, must be addressed from the public policy choice point of view. The paper argues for a sequencing of bilateral investment rule-making and proposes that unless the proposed FTA with investment rules is to leave policy space for the government, the BIT shall be given a due role to play in the course of economic integration between China and its partners.





2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Badr Almalki ◽  
Adel Zakaria ◽  
Mansour A. Balkhyour ◽  
Ijaz Ahmad

Systematic management of occupational safety and health (OSH) issues requires attention in many aspects like regulatory, technical, organizational and managerial. Approaching OSH from an organizational culture perspective can also facilitate achieving sustainable improvements in organizational OSH performance. OSH culture helps in seeing and organizing safety from different perspectives and should not be reduced to a matter of culture only. The knowledge, information and data gathered is expected to be very useful in the process of improving OSH-related procedures, practices and policies, eventually leading to enhanced OSH performance. This paper attempts to describe a cultural approach towards understanding organizational OSH. It will help the readers, professionals, authorities, and policy makers in understanding OSH from a cultural point of view, and how to assess this OSH culture as part of the of organizational improvement process. The aim is to disseminate latest information on this complex topic, trying to build a bridge between practice and research. The scientific literature shows these two terms, safety climate and safety culture, are often interchangeable, but they are distinct but related concepts. The word "safety culture" is a complex and persistent feature reflecting fundamental assumptions, expectations, norms and values, which are also represented by societal culture while "safety climate" best pronounces attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of employees classically measured by surveys and observations. Safety culture measurement requires detailed investigation of how members in an organization interact to form a shared view of safety. This paper explores the ideas of an organization’s safety climate and culture for the purpose of determining which is more advantageous for accurately describing a "state of safety”. Preliminary results of a case study from a water and power project from Saudi Arabia has been added. 



2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-126
Author(s):  
MAHESH CHAND SINGH ◽  
VAJINDER PAL ◽  
SOM PAL SINGH ◽  
SANJAY SATPUTE

Climate change which is one of the main determinants of agricultural production has started affecting the crop growth pattern and yield from past couple of decades in various agro-climatic zones globally. Under such scenario, the prior forecasting of yield of field crops such as wheat via modeling techniques can help in simplifying the crop production management system starting from farmer’s level to policy makers. The present study was thus undertaken to model the wheat yield of Ludhiana district of  Indian Punjab through regression analysis of historical data (1993-2017) of wheat yield and climatic conditions in the area. The developed model was successfully validated with a strong positive correlation (R2=0.81) between predicted and observed data. Both observed and predicted yields were having similar trend with a minimum and maximum absolute differential error of 0.1 and 13.9% respectively. The developed model may serve as a powerful tool for predicting the future yield of wheat crop with available futuristic climatic data of the study area.



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