Securing Africa's Land for Shared Prosperity

May 2013
Author: Byamugisha, Frank F. K.
228 pages

This is the first book on land administration and reform in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is highly relevant to all developing countries around the world. It provides simple practical steps to turn the hugely controversial subject of "land grabs” into a development opportunity by improving land governance to reduce the risks of dispossessing poor landholders while ensuring mutually beneficial investors’ deals.

The book shows how Sub Saharan Africa can leverage its abundant and highly valuable natural resources to eradicate poverty by improving land governance through a ten point program to scale up policy reforms and investments at a cost of USD 4.5 billion. The book points out formidable challenges to implementation including high vulnerability to land grabbing and expropriation with poor compensation as about 90 percent of rural lands in Sub Saharan Africa are undocumented, but also timely opportunities since high commodity prices and investor interest in large scale agriculture have increased land values and returns to investing in land administration. 

It argues that success in implementation will require participation of many players including Pan-African organizations, Sub Saharan Africa governments, the private sector, civil society and development partners; but that ultimate success will depend on the political will of Sub Saharan Africa governments to move forward with comprehensive policy reforms and on concerted support by the international development community. 

Its rigorous analysis of land governance issues, yet down-to-earth solutions, are a reflection of Byamugisha's more than 20 years of global experience in land reform and administration especially in Asia and Africa. This volume will be of great interest to and relevant for a wide audience interested in African development, global studies in land, and natural resource management.

About the author:

Mr. Frank F. K. Byamugisha, a Ugandan national, is an Operations Adviser and Lead Land Specialist in the Africa Region of the World Bank where he has worked for about 30 years on land tenure and administration reforms especially in Asia and Africa. Before joining the World Bank, he was an Assistant Secretary at the Ministry of Finance in Papua New Guinea. He holds a Ph.D in Economics and a Master of Science in Land Surveying from the University of East London, a Masters Degree in Agricultural Development Economics from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Makerere University, Uganda.