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inaccurate. Many displaced families will remain where they currently reside to maximize
opportunities and minimize risks. However, farmers who have planted crops are not
necessarily permanent settlers and may move again after the next agricultural season—again
depending on opportunities and risks. This movement has both positive and negative
consequences: It is positive because smallholders are seizing opportunities that ensure them
the best quality of life; it is negative because such flux creates economic and geographical
instability and causes openings for unscrupulous persons or for the government to confiscate
land and displace smallholders.
The research also discloses that many former refugees and displaced families have
acquired at least temporary rights to land and have cultivated for at least one agricultural
season. But smallholders in many locations are acutely aware of the transitory nature of their
rights and the possibility that they could lose them. There is tension among smallholders in
some locations. Research showed that land disputes between smallholders were positively
resolved by local customary authorities in most locations, were resolved by locality-level
government officials less frequently, and were settled by the courts in not a single case
investigated. The incidence of customary authorities' being unable to resolve disputes
involving smallholders signifies the complex social struggles reemerging in the postwar
period.
The case studies also reveal confrontations between smallholders and larger commercial
interests, between smallholders and joint-venture enterprises, and between smallholders and
the government. In many situations smallholders are being forced to abandon land in favor
of more powerful interests. Customary authorities were unable to resolve these disputes and
often refused to become involved. In most circumstances smallholders presented petitions or
complaints to government officials and in a few cases achieved an investigation and a
favorable decision. More frequently, however, government officials either did nothing or
decided in favor of the larger commercial interests. Conflicts have resulted, sometimes
leading to physical violence. In some places tension remains high.
Research revealed the emergence of a new category of postwar displaced smallholders.
These individuals and families are being uprooted as government grants land concessions and
as unscrupulous private interests—who are exploiting the relative weakness of smallholder
farmers and the lack of clarity in land laws—force people to move.
Admittedly, unexploited land exists in many locations, and smallholders say that they have
enough land in many places. Our primary focus and area of concern is land that is more
strategically located—in the former corridors; on the state farms; and near the cities,
international borders, coast, rivers, and major roads. These areas, which have the highest
population concentrations, are the most valuable and desirable. Larger commercial interests
are acquiring these lands, and smallholders are being displaced in the process. More
importantly, smallholders are being denied an opportunity to compete with the more powerful
commercial interests, thus depriving them of the opportunity to improve their economic
position.