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wanting to move to the village. 14 Other terms and conditions, possibly including a token gratuity or
grant of money, may also be required. The second scenario is where the applicant is a current or
former resident of the village—e.g., a son who has not received land through inheritance, a farmer
who wishes to expand farm size, or a male resident who returns to claim land following a long
absence. In this case, it may be either the chief or the headman who will allocate the land. In all
cases, the size of the allocation is based in large part upon the amount of land the household will be
able to cultivate.
Land allocation appears to be an important method of land acquisition in Southern province
with 17 percent of households receiving land from chiefs or headmen. Similarly, in Eastern province,
allocations from traditional authorities are utilized by 18 percent of households. Within Eastern
province allocation is more frequent among households from outside the area (32 percent) than among
resident households (8 percent). In Southern province both resident and migrant households were
equally likely to obtain land from chiefs or headmen.
3. Temporary acquisitions
Temporary acquisitions include seasonal rentals and borrowings. Because landholdings are
large relative to household labor supply, there is normally not a significant demand for additional land
for cultivation. However, seasonal capabilities will differ according to access to oxen plows, seeds,
or labor. The most common reason for temporary exchanges is lack of maize seed to cultivate the
entire plowed holdings. Arrangements will be made with another farmer to till the land in exchange
for a portion of the output. The existence of a prepared field, unlike the case of a bare field, is
attractive to would-be tillers. Respondents prefer to describe this arrangement as lending rather than
renting, perhaps because there is rarely a cash transfer.
None of our respondents in Eastern or Southern province had rented in parcels during the
season prior to the interviews. The percentage of households having ever rented out land was also low:
6 percent in Southern province and 3 percent in Eastern province.' S Only two households reported
borrowing land in Eastern province, and both were Chewa.
4. Other acquisitions
In addition to inheritance, state allocation and purchasing were used by households to acquire
State Land. Because some settlement areas visited were relatively new, state allocation appears to be
an important method of land acquisition with 12 of 28 State Land households using this method.
There were also seven purchases of land in the sample. Six occurred in Southern province,
three each in State Land and the Reserves. All seven involved private buyers and sellers.
14
Allocation of land to strangers can be made by the headman in consultation with his advisors, but not necessarily with
the chief, particularly in Southern province.
Percentages for households renting out are not comparable with the same figures for renting in. According to the way
the questionnaire was designed, renting in refers only to parcels that households are currently renting, while renting out
refers to an action made at any time in history.