Chapter 5:
Land Tenure and Agricultural Development in Customary Areas:
Results from Eastern and Southern Provinces
by
Frank Place, V.R.N. Chinene, Michelo Hansungule, and Fabian Maimbo'
I. Introduction
Previous chapters have identified a number of potential tenure constraints to agricultural
development in rural areas. This chapter addresses some of these issues by utilizing recent data
collected from rural households mainly located in customary areas of Zambia. LTC, in collaboration
with ICRAF and the University of Zambia undertook a study of nearly 200 households in Eastern and
Southern provinces in 1992-93. The study focused on the link between tenure and on-farm tree
planting activities of households. However, the formal questionnaire used for the study included
general questions on land tenure as well as some indicators of agricultural productivity/development.
Following this introduction, section II contains a brief overview of the research design and description
of study sites. Section III presents some of the findings related to land tenure security including data
on land acquisition, rights, and disputes. Section IV describes the various agricultural development
indicators analyzed in the study. Section V examines the linkages between land tenure and selected
agricultural productivity indicators such as adoption of oxen mechanization, use of chemical fertilizers
and credit, and presence of various long-term improvements on land, including trees. Finally, section
VI summarizes the results and identifies further research needs.
II. Overview of LTC/ICRAF Study
The two provinces selected for study—Eastern and Southern provinces—are situated on a
plateau that is characterized by relatively fertile soils and medium rainfall. Characteristics of sample
households in each region are given in table 5.1.
Eastern province was chosen because it is host to an ICRAF research station. The province
is dominated by mixed maize/livestock farming systems, although maize appears to be by far the most
important component. Among crops, it is estimated to occupy over 80 percent of cultivated area
(Celis, Milimo, and Wanmali 1991). The Celis study also found that crop income accounted for over
90 percent of household income and this was mainly from maize. Other crops grown include legumes
such as groundnut and cash crops such as sunflower and cotton. Livestock is nevertheless important:
about 55 percent of sample households had cattle and the median herd size (of those with cattle) was
seven. As the province is located quite a distance from the major urban centers of Lusaka (500
kilometers) and the Copperbelt, there are few off-farm income opportunities. Prior to the
' Frank Place is research associate with the Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison; V.R.N. Chinene
is dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences, University of Zambia; Michelo Hansungule is lecturer in land law, School
of Law, with the University of Zambia; and Fabian Maimbo is with the Department of Rural Development, Faculty of
Agriculture, University of Zambia.