Land insecurity and the phenomenon of poverty among rural populations in black Africa: the case of South-East Togo

Abstract

In most Third World countries in general and those of sub-Saharan Africa in particular, national development is always conditioned by that of the rural world. Agriculture contributes more than 1/3 of the GDP and employs nearly 70% of the active population. In this context, access to land security for rural producers becomes a fundamental imperative. The land problem in the Southeast Maritime is linked to land access which is not reassuring for farmers who do not have land control due to the behavior of landowners. This article analyzes the different dimensions of land insecurity on the phenomenon of poverty experienced by agricultural producers with temporary cultivation rights on cultivated plots. To achieve this, it used quantitative and qualitative methods based on the administration of the questionnaire and individual interviews with actors such as: lineage communities, farmers, tenant farmers, sharecroppers, opinion leaders, etc. The results showed that the precariousness of land access compromises the development of subsistence agriculture (and therefore the improvement of the food security of the population) by making it extremely difficult to make any long-term investment in techniques allowing, at the same time, better soil conservation and a significant increase in agricultural yields.