Securing land tenure rights for men and women farmers in Sierra Leone
Two-thirds of Sierra Leone’s population is involved in subsistence agriculture. Farmers — most of them women —operate in an informal and precarious system without any legal titles to their lands.
© Sebastian Liste / NOOR for FAO
Women represent 70 percent of the agricultural labour force of Sierra Leone, holding an important role in natural resource management and food production. Despite their contribution, however, women are often discriminated against and denied ownership, access to or control of land. In addition, discriminatory, customary and statutory laws that favour men hinder the economic impact of women’s agricultural activities.
Now, thanks to new land tenure policies, farmers - male and female – have hopes to build a brighter future without fearing eviction from their land.
Sierra Leone is no stranger to reforming policies or drafting laws on land tenure. What marked a departure from traditional policy-making was that for the first time in the country’s history, not only did ministers sit with civil society and businesses to discuss cross-cutting issues on tenure governance, but they also used the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forestry (VGGT) as a guiding force in drafting a new land policy that was fair, easy to implement and accepted by everyone.
“It is important that women participate as equal decision-making partners in the equity and distribution of land and that they are not subordinated to lesser roles,” explained Julia Fofanah, Country Manager of Conservation Alliance Sierra Leone, a non-governmental environmental organization.