C’est en date du 22 mars 2024 qu’a eu lieu au chef-lieu de la province Makamba l’atelier de lancement du projet « Justice pour Toutes et Tous dans la Gestion des Conflits Fonciers (JTT-GCF) » exécuté par LADEC (Land and Development Expertise Center) dans les provinces de Makamba et Rutana sur financement du Royaume des Pays-Bas à travers son agence de développement RVO. Voir tout l'article sur Land Portal.

Our previous article was on a new LADEC initiative aimed at stimulating people's interest in certifying their land rights. This involves exploring approaches aimed at enhancing the value of land through productive farming, in particular through a new cassava-growing technique. LADEC is working on the assumption that increasing the value of land, through increased production, could give a considerable boost to the certification of land rights (https://ladec.bi/index.php/en/newss/valuing-land-to-boost-land-certification). It is in this context that LADEC continues to explore other ways of promoting and strengthening land tenure security.

When it comes to women's and girls' land rights, many men are beginning to understand that things are changing, and that there's no more going back. But are women satisfied with these changes?

In recent years, LADEC's work has focused more on issues such as land certification and land conflict management. Despite the importance of these themes, particularly in terms of strengthening the security of rights held over land, there is still a reluctance to make use of the mechanisms put in place. LADEC explores ways of enhancing the value of land through its efficient and productive use.

In its attempts to explain this situation, LADEC does not exclude aspects linked to the productivity of certified land. The idea is, among other things, that owners who are not satisfied with their production would therefore have little incentive to have their land certified. To address this concern, LADEC is exploring ways of enhancing the value of land through its efficient and productive use.

With this in mind, the « Prévention et Résolution des Conflits Fonciers » Projet (Land Conflict Prevention and Resolution Project) has taken the initiative of establishing synergies with stakeholders involved in soil protection and increasing agricultural productivity in its area of action, notably to launch a new cassava-growing technique on a few pilot local areas.  

What  is this technique about?

This cultivation technique is about digging a large ditch, 2 to 3 meters on a side, depending on the fertility of the soil, or a trench depending on the slope of the land. These ditches are filled with easily decomposable organic products to produce the necessary manure and ensure the phytosanitary protection of cassava cuttings.

Field demonstration at LADEC headquarters

The cassava cuttings will not be planted in the ditch until 3 weeks after the manure has been prepared. As an experiment, two households were targeted from among the members of the councils of notables, including one represented by a woman and member of the council. To this end, one « colline » per commune in the project's intervention zone was chosen, and the results will be disseminated to the other households/  « collines » in due course.

Participants with the ADP (Artisans de Paix) team

The advantages of this simple but highly productive and effective cultivation technique include an abundant harvest, as a single cutting produces more cassava than several cuttings planted using the usual technique. In fact, a single cutting can yield 60 to 100 kg, as demonstrated by the experience of ADP, which supports LADEC in this initiative. What's more, cassava planted using this innovative technique can withstand drought, enabling year-round cultivation.

What's more, this technique is not harmful to the environment, as the fertilizer used does not require chemical fertilizers, but rather natural plant residues. The decomposition of these residues enriches the soil without destroying the subsoil's living species.

The success of this cultivation initiative will enhance the value of the land, which we hope will increase the rate of land certification. Indeed, those who have noticed the productive value of the land at their disposal will be more inclined to have their rights secured

Today, collaboration with a number of stakeholders in agricultural innovations aimed at increasing cassava productivity represents added value from a land management point of view. LADEC hopes that the practice of innovative agriculture will add value to the land, constituting one of the potential means of encouraging right-holders to secure their properties.

The adoption of new, innovative cultivation techniques will result in remarkable soil productivity, which will further enhance the value of landholdings. As a result, increased productivity could provide a major boost to awareness of the need for land certification.  Knowing that land is truly productive and therefore has an added value, the population of the action zone will increasingly strive to secure it, thus contributing to the prevention and reduction of land conflicts.

LADEC hopes that, as a result of such activities, more and more landowners will make land security a priority.  The certification rate will increase considerably in the action zone, enabling progress towards our vision: "We want a prosperous, peaceful and just society through equitable access to resources and development opportunities".

Exchanging ideas with the councils of notables and other conflict management structures at the local level on their daily tasks, sharing the situation of land and community conflicts managed during the first half of this year, sharing communications on gender sensitivity and the prevention of exploitation, These were the main objectives of the workshops held from June 26 to june 30, 2023, in the five communes that constitute the « PRCF » (Prevention and Resolution of Land Conflicts) project intervention zone, namely Gatara, Matongo, Ngozi, Ruhororo and Tangara, as well as the six courts of residence operating in these very communes.