RURAL LAND TENURE REGISTRATION IN BENIN: FACTS AND CHALLENGES COMLAN AGUESSI Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Benin agueflor@yahoo.fr

CONTENT OF THE PRESENTATION Insights on the Republic of Benin THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF LAND TENURE AND GOVERNANCE IN BENIN The former situation The land reform process Some highlights of the Land and Domain Code THE RURAL LAND RIGHTS REGISTRATION PROCEDURE The registration process Facts from the evaluation of the rural land plans CHALLENGES FOR AN EFFICIENT SYSTEM OF RURAL LAND TENURE RIGHTS REGISTRATION

Insights on the Republic of Benin Location : West Africa, on the western border of Nigeria Land area : 112 620 sq km Population : 10 million (2014), with an average population density of 89 inhabitants per km2; Official language : French ; many local languages are practiced Monetary unit : CFA Franc (XOF), of which the current exchange rate is currently about 600 FCFA to the U.S. dollar

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF LAND TENURE AND GOVERNANCE IN BENIN The previous situation A complicated array of laws and regulations The main law adopted in 1965 focuses on the individual land titling procedure, leading to a property deed called ‘‘titre foncier’’ The procedure is complex, costly and is not locally managed. It starts at the local level and is completed at the national level with the land titling department of the Ministry of Finance.

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF LAND TENURE AND GOVERNANCE IN BENIN The previous situation (continued)  As a result, to date, more than 95% of rural as well as urban lands remain without any legal title Land disputes are common throughout the country, leading to a great number of lawsuits Destruction of houses and buildings as consequence of court decisions regarding illegal occupation and construction

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF LAND TENURE AND GOVERNANCE IN BENIN The land reform Started in 1997 and led to a new law on rural lands adopted in 2007 (The Rural Land Act N° 2007-03) The new law strengthened the customary rural land rights and established the legal basis for their identification and recognition. The ‘‘Rural Land Plan’’ was instituted as a group rural land titling system for collective land rights registration I A new land title called the ‘‘Rural Land Certificate’’ (Certificat Foncier Rural in French) was created to be issued to traditional rural landholders as evidence of their ownership rights  

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF LAND TENURE AND GOVERNANCE IN BENIN The land reform (continued) The reform was later extended to the other aspects of land (urban and peri-urban lands, land governance, etc.) The outcome is a new comprehensive law called the ‘‘Land and Domain Code’’ (Code Foncier et Domanial in French) adopted in August 2013 The new law replaces all the previous laws and regulations for land tenure and governance Fourteen implementing decrees have been adopted thus far by the government

SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE LAND AND DOMAIN CODE The Land and Domain Code applies to rural, urban and peri-urban lands; to private as well as to public lands A new individual land titling procedure has been developed with a new title called ‘‘Land Ownership Certificate’’ (Certificat de propriété foncière) The law makes it compulsory for holders of farmlands to have it in production, except during fallow periods to restore soil fertility A maximum limit of 1,000 hectares of land in Benin can be acquired by a single owner, to prevent large scale rural land acquisition

SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE LAND AND DOMAIN CODE (continued) The “National Domain and Land Agency” (Agence Nationale du Domaine et du Foncier) has been established as a new body for land governance The new law upholds the rural land plan, but the title issued at the end of the procedure is now the Land Ownership Certificate rather than the former Rural Land Certificate The required tools for the implementation of the new law are currently being put in place with the financial support of the Netherlands’ embassy to Benin

THE RURAL LAND RIGHTS REGISTRATION PROCEDURE The rural land registration process The main aim is the promotion of agriculture by securing all types of land rights: ownership or user rights, collective or individual rights, customary or legal rights The rural land plan is the registration of all the parcels of land in a village and the rights which are attached, ownership as well as user rights

THE RURAL LAND RIGHTS REGISTRATION PROCEDURE The registration process Identifies land rights on the basis of local and customary practices, traditionally established or expressed by local populations It also takes into account the land rights obtained by the implementation of administrative and legal procedures, through land transactions

THE RURAL LAND RIGHTS REGISTRATION PROCEDURE The registration process (continued) The rural land plan is realized through an approach in six main phases which are: First phase: Informing of affected populations Second phase: Socio-economic survey of the village Third phase: Preparation of the land lexicon Fourth phase: Analysis of land dynamics in the village Fifth phase: Tenure rights identification and registration Sixth phase: Development of the rural land plan documents

THE RURAL LAND RIGHTS REGISTRATION PROCEDURE Number of rural land plans established 294 rural land plans from 2008 to 2011 funded by the Millennium Challenge Account of the United States government 104 rural land plans from 2008 to 2013 by a program funded by KFW of the Federal Republic of Germany 41 rural land plans were established between 1997 and 2006 during the experimental phase About 30,000 rural land certificates have been delivered to owners, representing roughly 30% of the target

Clarification of the land property situation of the village THE RURAL LAND RIGHTS REGISTRATION PROCEDURE Facts from the evaluation of the rural land plans Positive/favorable points Clarification of the land property situation of the village Reduction of land disputes within villages Stimulation of a land market in the regions where land sales are practiced The rural land plan as a multipurpose document can be used by local governments for many other purposes related to social and economic planning and development can be used as a starting point for the establishment of the cadastre.

Some drawbacks of the rural land plan THE RURAL LAND RIGHTS REGISTRATION PROCEDURE Facts from the evaluation of the rural land plans Some drawbacks of the rural land plan Exclusive focus on the ownership rights, neglect of secondary land rights All the types of land rights are registered but only the ownership rights are recorded in the land information system and entitle a person to obtain a rural land certificate No legal proof or documentary evidence of secondary land rights Absence of protection for the land rights on housing spaces The procedure doesn’t register land rights for housing lots, thus the procedure cannot be truly considered as a tool that provides full land tenure security for the entire village

Some drawbacks of the rural land plan (continued) THE RURAL LAND RIGHTS REGISTRATION PROCEDURE Facts from the evaluation of the rural land plans Some drawbacks of the rural land plan (continued) Low rate of rural land certificate distribution because: The local governments’ offices are facing huge difficulties to carry out the activities that lead to the issuance of the certificates Very little interest on the part of landholders except in conflict situations that require proof of property rights. Rural landholders do not have a specific use for the certificates since these are often not accepted by financial institutions as collateral for loans

The procedure is too costly THE RURAL LAND RIGHTS REGISTRATION PROCEDURE Facts from the evaluation of the rural land plans Some drawbacks of the rural land plan (continued) The procedure is too costly It is quite difficult to assess accurately the cost of the procedure but the general opinion is that it is quite costly compared with similar operations in other countries It is difficult to assess the cost because the procedures were carried out by projects which are set up and funded by foreign donors, and it is well known that most donor-funded projects have operating costs far above what could be supported by national or local governments

Ensure a better protection of the secondary rights CHALLENGES FOR AN EFFICIENT SYSTEM OF RURAL LAND TENURE RIGHTS REGISTRATION Ensure a better protection of the secondary rights Put some emphasis on the identification and protection of secondary rights Deliver a kind of title to holders of user rights at the end of the procedure To prevent disputes between land owners and users, provide owners with sufficient guarantees that they will recover the land after the period allowed for use right comes to the end

Provide a better protection of the rights for immigrants CHALLENGES FOR AN EFFICIENT SYSTEM OF RURAL LAND TENURE RIGHTS REGISTRATION (continued) Provide a better protection of the rights for immigrants When customary land rights clarification requires going back very far in time, it negatively affects the rights of people who arrived more recently in the region Everything must be done to ensure that registration of customary rights does not lead to the discrimination of certain people based on their origin

Provide a better protection of land rights for women CHALLENGES FOR AN EFFICIENT SYSTEM OF RURAL LAND TENURE RIGHTS REGISTRATION (continued) Provide a better protection of land rights for women In Benin, laws and regulations provide formal guarantee for women to inherit land However, almost everywhere in the country, customary rules and practices exclude women, mainly from rural land ownership The rural land plan process should strive to protect women’s rights, for inheritance or user rights which they are granted by land owners who may be their relatives or husbands.

Make the best use of technology CHALLENGES FOR AN EFFICIENT SYSTEM OF RURAL LAND TENURE RIGHTS REGISTRATION (continued) Ensure better control of the process by the municipalities with greater participation and responsibility local governments Extend the land rights registration to the housing spaces of villages to provide legal protection to villagers’ land rights on their homes just as on their farms Make the best use of technology As the technology rapidly evolves, the operators should adapt because modern technologies can reduce the cost and duration of operations. A test carried out in 2014 by using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for taking aerial pictures and a tablet for the collection and registration of the information on land rights

Revise the overall process of the procedure’s implementation CHALLENGES FOR AN EFFICIENT SYSTEM OF RURAL LAND TENURE RIGHTS REGISTRATION (end) Revise the overall process of the procedure’s implementation The process of the rural land plan implementation needs to be revised to take into account the improvements which are possible, based on the first lessons from the available assessments and other findings that further investigations may reveal A technical committee is currently carrying out the mission of updating the procedures manual of the rural land plan which should be completed by the end of April 2015

Thank you for your attention