153
by the large number of respondents in the sample who have inherited land (see table 5.2). 9 Cross-
tabulations show that all household heads below the age of 30 in Eastern province (N=21) had
inherited land. Further, 40 of 42 household heads under the age of 40 received inherited land. This
strongly suggests that land is normally passed to heirs prior to death of the father and that it is not one
but many heirs who receive land. 10 A similar, but more varied, pattern is found among the Tonga
of Southern province.
Table 5.2: Percentage distribution of households by method of land acquisition'
|
Method |
Southern province |
Eastern province |
|
Inheritance or gift: | ||
|
Patrilineal ties |
32 |
64 |
|
Matrilineal ties |
22 |
12 |
|
Other family ties' |
11 |
20 |
|
Allocated by chief or headman |
17 |
18 |
|
Purchased |
6 |
1 |
|
Allocated by state |
12 |
2 |
|
Rented or borrowed |
0 |
2 |
a. Nearly all households in Southern province had only one parcel; of the few that had more, the two or more
parcels were acquired in the same manner, thus summing to 100 percent. In Eastern province, 19 of 98
households used more than one manner of acquisition, thus the reason for summing to 119 percent.
Unfortunately, parcel-level breakdowns were unavailable for reporting.
b. It is not clear from the responses whether "grandparents" or "other relatives" imply a matrilineal or
patrilineal pattern.
Those sons who do not receive an inheritance but wish to farm in the village may seek land
from the headman, but they must first seek land from within the extended family." Women do not
generally inherit land. In the case where the sons are too young at the time of the father's death, the
woman may retain the use of family gardens as custodian until the sons reach maturity.
Among the Chewa, various inheritance arrangements can be found. In traditional Chewa
society, the institution of uxorilocal marriage is common whereby marriage to a nonvillager was
promoted and residence taken up in the wife's village. In these cases, the couple will receive an
allocation of land from the wife's family. This practice has been modified over time, in some cases
9 The data do not permit further analysis of whether the father bequeathed land to multiple sons or to the eldest son, who
then allocated land to his brothers. The central point is nonetheless the same—i.e., land does not end up with one heir, which
is the general interpretation made in the literature.
10 Given these high proportions, it should be obvious that the result holds for both the Ngoni and Chewa ethnic groups.
" This policy, along with matching allocation sizes to ability to cultivate, can be viewed as two indigenous methods to
discourage underutilization of land. A third is repossessing idle land for reallocation by the chief.