Global restructuring and land rights in Ghana : forest food chains, timber and rural livelihoods

Abstract

From p. 23-24: "The interrelationship between the penetration of international capital, the restructuring of the economy, the political economy of social and class formations, and local livelihood struggles for access to resources inform the structure of this work. The first chapter examines the emergence of the modern agrifood system in the post-war economy. This system comprises a constellation of private capital, state support structures and state-sponsored research that favour agribusiness. The chapter traces the influences of this system on agricultural policies and structural adjustment in the Ghanaian economy and in the conceptualisation of the land question. The second chapter traces the evolution of land relations in Ghana from the colonial period to the present. It examines how the concept of tradition and customary land rights has been manipulated to ensure that the peasantry have no secure rights in land and to ensure control over the land by a class of landowning chiefs at the beck and call of the state. The landowning chiefs have become the pivot of rural development and the processes through which capital can gain access to land and control over productive ventures. The third chapter examines the struggles of communities over land and livelihood issues and popular perceptions that have developed about the state, the economy and development in the Akyem area. In the fourth chapter, we offer a general review of the land question in the light of the evidence we have marshalled in the study and make the case for a new perspective in the study of land rights."

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