Date
2022-04
Authors
G. HONFOGA, Barthelemy
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Land is at the heart of any country’s development, especially for agriculture,
housing, environment, health, safety, and human security. It is a critical
production factor in agriculture which, in Benin accounts for more than 70% of
the labor force and contributes on average about 32% to Gross Domestic Product
(GDP)1
. Land in Benin is shared between agriculture (29%), residential areas
(33%) and forest, mineral reserves, and hydroelectric dams (38%). The new land
law (voted in 2013 and revised in 2017) is meant to correct the imperfections of previous land laws, and regulate land leases in respect of equity issues, including the
access by women and the youth to land2
. Yet, in rural areas, customary norms still
coexist with formal state laws, sometimes with confusing practices on the ground.
The recent rural land registration and land certificate project3
, for implementing the
law through geo-localization and participatory property right validation process, has
not yet reached all rural areas, and the related socio-economic data are scanty and
not appropriate for research and policy-making. Indeed, the data did not accrue from
comprehensive land survey guidelines. Owing to the various problems arising from
land use, and to the current imperfections in the application of the law, an inventory
of available socio-economic land data is required to better inform land policies, and
foster sustainable land governance and land management in Benin.