Land tenure, food security and investment in postwar Sierra Leone

This paper represents part of an area of work on land tenure in post-conflict situations. An earlier LSP paper explored post-conflict land tenure in the context of sustainable livelihoods (LSP Working Paper 18: Unruh, J. (2004). “Post-conflict land tenure: using a sustainable livelihoods approach”.) The work is complemented by the FAO Land Tenure Studies 8 “Access to rural land and land administration after violent conflicts”. The study examines: 1) rural social dynamics and land tenure; 2) tenure security and land access; 3) the labour problem; 4) mechanization issues for agriculture; 5) loans and land as collateral; 6) leasing and partnerships, the options for investment; 7) the problem with changing to freehold; 8) legislative reform; and, 9) themes from Mozambique’s land policy reform experience. Recommendations are then suggested, followed by areas for future research.