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A LAND RESTITUTION POST-SENTENCING TECHNICAL ROUNDTABLE IN MONTES DE MARÍA IS A SPACE THAT ENABLES THE INSTITUTIONAL COORDINATION NEEDED TO TO COMPLY WITH ORDERS ISSUED BY LAND JUDGES IN FAVOR OF LAND CLAIMANTS THAT WERE DISPLACED DURING THE ARMED CONFLICT. IN THIS INTERVIEW, ELLA CECILIA DEL CASTILLO, REGIONAL DIRECTOR OF THE LAND RESTITUTION UNIT IN BOLÍVAR, DESCRIBES HOW THE GOVERNMENT IS IMPROVING DELIVERY OF SERVICES ION THE POST-RULING PHASE OF LAND RESTITUTION.

Q: How is land restitution process going in Bolívar thus far?

A: In Bolívar, the government has received 5,972 land restitution requests, and 93% of those have are in process or have been answered. In this moment, there are 1,104 demands—corresponding to approximately 16,000 hectares—in the hands of land restitution judges and magistrates. In Bolívar, nearly 5,400 hectares have been restituted. This corresponds to 205 individual and collective rulings, representing approximately 380 families. Some 60% of the rulings are in the course of implementation, and 40% of the cases are pending material delivery.

Q: One of the pitfalls in the implementation of restitution orders has to do with secondary occupants and the ability to vacate the land inhabited by a secondary occupant in order to deliver the land to the claimant. How have you solved this?

A: In the department of Bolívar, we have been pioneers in this issue of secondary occupants and in practice we have created new paths. Along with Sucre, we are the two regions with the most cases of secondary occupants. We have sought solutions together with the other institutions involved, including the restitution judges. We have managed to avoid forced eviction, rather for judges to convene preparatory hearings where all the entities are present, and we generate short-term commitments that will help the secondary occupant. This must happen before there is any recognition of ownership of a property where we know that there is a secondary occupant. If we don’t do this, a very complex situation is likely to unfold. We are trying to adopt practices that mitigate the amount of collateral damage and avoid that the secondary occupants are re-victimized. We also count on the support of regional authorities that assume many of the tasks necessary for the accommodation and transfer of the people, but the ultimate goal of this exercise is that there are no forced evictions and that our restitution work does not causes further damage or negative impacts upon our communities.

Q: Do joint spaces such as the post-sentencing technical roundtable enable the LRU and government partners to address issues such as secondary occupants and order compliance?

A: Yes, these spaces have been fundamental in terms of coordination between the institutions that are involved in land restitution, because together we can better identify bottlenecks and problematic situations preventing compliance and delivery. In these spaces, we have achieved significant coordination with the judges on the issue of secondary occupants and the compliance of delivering the property in question to the original owner. In addition, the LRU has been developing a methodology involving a series of visits along with the judges so that the relevant entities can comply with the ruling’s orders that favor the secondary occupant, who will be leaving the land. This methodology has provided excellent results, and there are recent cases in which we have seen valuable experiences of reconciliation between the second occupant and the claimant.

The Land Potential-Knowledge System (LandPKS; landpotential.org), a joint USAID-USDA program, was created to help put valuable information about the land, including climate, soils, and vegetation, in the hands of land managers across the world. It does this through the use of the LandPKS Mobile app, which is free to download and use for both Android and iPhone. Importantly, LandPKS is a way to both input and access data that is point-based and geo-referenced. The LandInfo module is one component of the LandPKS app and allows the user to obtain information about the soil directly beneath their feet. The LandInfo module walks a user through digging a hole and hand-texturing the soil to determine the soil texture and available water holding capacity or AWC. Future versions of LandInfo will also include infiltration rates, organic matter, soil color, and have algorithms that match the user-input data about soil texture with global soil maps to provide the user with the specific name of their soil.

The point-based model used by LandPKS is incredibly powerful because in many parts of the world the soil varies significantly from place to place and these changes in soil types can have dramatic impacts for farmers and others aiming to utilize that land. One excellent example is from the village of Nyamihuu, located near Iringa, Tanzania (photo below).

With local farmers, the LandPKS team dug three LandInfo Plots within a short distance from each other on a slightly sloping landscape. The differences in soil texture and AWC were quite drastic, with the Lower Field having almost double the AWC of the Upper Field. This has serious implications for farmers because the Lower Field will be generally more productive due to the greater ability to hold water in the soil for crops to utilize. Further, the Forest plot had by far the lowest AWC, which is important because it suggests that clearing the forest for cultivation may not be worth the effort and environmental impact.

The lesson here is that location matters! Soil can vary from one farm to the next, and LandPKS can empower farmers, agricultural extension agents, and others to gain access to site-specific soil information. Knowing your soil texture and AWC can influence what decisions are made. First, it can help a land manager decide if they want to farm a piece of land or not. As the example of the Forest plot above shows, some land is not suitable for agriculture, and LandPKS can help provide knowledge to show this. Second, soil texture and AWC may influence decisions about crop selection or crop varieties. Planting crops that are suitable for their specific soil will help farmers increase production and farm more sustainably. For example, the farmer on the Upper Field may want to plant more drought resistant crops or practice water conservation measures in order to make up for the lower AWC of their farm. Location matters, and LandPKS is one tool that can provide point-based, geo-referenced data to those who need it to make more sustainable land management decisions. For more information about LandPKS please visit our website at landpotential.org or e-mail us at contact@landpotential.org.

Originally appeared in USAID SURGE Project’s Cities Development Initiative Newsletter.

USAID’s SURGE Project joined the first ASEAN Land Governance Summit in Manila on December 4 to 5, 2017. The summit, with the theme “Aligning Competencies toward Sustainable Good Land Governance”, gathered more than 400 public and private sector representatives from the ASEAN member countries, as well as dialogue partners from Australia, China, and Taiwan, with the special participation of the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

SURGE Project Chief of Party Bradley Baxter gave a presentation on asset management for local government units, and described how cities can improve revenue generation and service delivery through asset management. The SURGE Project previously developed an Asset Management Manual contextualized to the setting of Philippine urban cities, and during the summit, the governments of China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand requested for a copy of the manual.

Plenaries were organized in multiple inter-related themes of Geodetic Network Development and Cadastre, Land Administration, Land Surveys for Land Development and Local Government Geomatics. These provided the opportunity to share local innovations and practical solutions in land governance. The summit was held in conjunction with the 65th Council Meeting of the ASEAN Federation of Land Surveying and Geomatics, hosted by the Geodetic Engineers Development Foundation.

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MORE THAN HALFWAY THROUGH THE MANDATE OF THE VICTIMS’ LAW, THE LAND RESTITUTION UNIT CONTINUES TO PRODUCE THE NECESSARY TOOLS TO IMPROVE THE PROCESS OF RESTITUTION. RICARDO SABOGAL, DIRECTOR OF THE LAND RESTITUTION UNIT, SPEAKS ABOUT USAID’S SUPPORT IN STRENGTHENING RULING COMPLIANCE AND THE CREATION OF AN AMBITIOUS INFORMATION SYSTEM LAUNCHED IN 2017 WITH USAID SUPPORT.

A BLESSING IN DISGUISE

In 1997, the Colombian government gave Laurencio Avila and 19 other farmers a collective land grant to be divided amongst themselves and their families. The land had not been farmed, though some used it for grazing. The nearest main road was still not paved, and there was no access to basic services like water and electricity. Over ten kilometers away from the municipality center of Fuentedeoro, the 165 hectares of land, known as La Española, felt very isolated.

“We established a main camp up on that hill and started preparing the soil,” explains Avila. Under the deal, each farmer received eight hectares of land and agreed the farmers association that would eventually become a cooperative, meant to increase their ability to negotiate with buyers.

The group, which calls itself Asoproes, got off to a rocky start. With no previous experience in running a business this large, members made accusations against one another, distrust grew. The land reform project slowly fell apart. To make matters worse, the association’s president was disappeared by paramilitaries. Every year, the association had issues with members who could not pay their share of land taxes on time. Soon, the group began looking for ways to turn their communal property into individual parcels; a land title for each family.

“It was embarrassing, because we were these supposedly lucky beneficiaries, and everybody would ask us why we were still poor,” says Avila.

The group sent Julio Cesar Serrano, who was then emerging as the association’s new leader, to Bogotá to meet with public servants from former land administration entity, INCORA, to figure out what they needed to do to get individual property titles. In addition to giving the farmers more power over their futures, property titles are critical for opening doors to financing for rural citizens. Without individual titles, the farmers were losing bank credits that could help them buy inputs or hire labor at the right time. More than 15 years went by with little progress.

“Just two weeks ago, I went to the bank to ask for a loan, but without a cosigner, I don’t qualify. If I had a land title, the evolution of our business could be different,” explains Avila. “Eight million pesos I would have used to buy inputs and hire manual labor. Every year it’s the same, with no capital, the risk of loss is greater.”

Tell us about yourself.

I am an Economic Growth Project Management Specialist in USAID/Central Asia’s Tajikistan Country Office. I provide program management within our economic portfolio in different sectors, including: land policy, regional energy, and regional trans-boundary water resource management.

I manage the Feed the Future Land Market Development Activity (LMDA), a 4-year, $10 million program that aims to promote the creation of a land market where farmers are able to buy, sell, and lease their agricultural land to those interested in acquiring access to new land. The activity is also promoting a simple and transparent land registration process with equal access and rights for men and women. I work closely with the implementing partner, high level government authorities, other donors, NGOs, and the business community to ensure the success of this program.

Why is land tenure/property rights important to Tajikistan? Why is it important to USAID?

USAID supports the Government of Tajikistan’s agrarian reform efforts to increase agricultural productivity through the Feed the Future Initiative, which works to: strengthen land rights, expand the availability of quality agricultural inputs, improve crop diversification, and facilitate market development. The Feed the Future LMDA program supports these objectives and continues USAID’s support for land reform and farm restructuring in Tajikistan, which began in 2004. To date, land reform and farm restructuring have significantly increased investment in the Tajik agricultural sector. Evidence shows this work has increased crop diversity and contributed substantially to increasing dietary diversity and incomes in rural Tajikistan, directly addressing the goals of Feed the Future in Tajikistan.

Through LMDA, USAID assists the Government of Tajikistan to achieve the next stage of the reform process, which is to establish a land market system that can ensure the orderly transfer of land rights in Tajikistan. The lack of a functioning land market puts all previous gains at risk. Efficient agricultural producers cannot expand their operations without the right to buy and sell agricultural land. Farmers who may want to start other enterprises or relocate cannot effectively liquidate their equity in land. They may not use land for collateral to obtain loans to improve agricultural profitability. Without the right to buy, sell, and mortgage a plot of land, farmers lack the means and incentive to invest funds to improve and diversify production.

What are some of the biggest challenges you see in addressing land tenure/property rights issues? And how are we tackling these challenges?

The cultural roles of women in Tajikistan vary widely by region but it is generally difficult for women to meet with officials to gather information about agricultural opportunities. At the same time, women carry out most of the agricultural labor in the country, but few women are farm heads. As the manager for USAID’s previous Land Reform and Farm Restructuring Project (2013 – 2016), I worked to ensure that land reform activities were gender balanced and our implementing partner considered Tajikistan’s social norms and behavior for various project activities and approaches. As the manager for LMDA, I continue to work to ensure that the implementing partner integrates the different roles women and men play in communities and societies, as well as the different levels of power they hold, their differing needs, constraints, opportunities, and the impact of these differences on their lives.

What are the some successes you have achieved (or USAID has achieved) in the land sector?

At Tajikistan’s independence in 1991, large-scale collective Soviet farms (1,000-2,000 hectares of irrigated land with around 2,000 workers) managed all of Tajikistan’s land. Land reform and farm restructuring began in the early 1990s with the reorganization of 562 collective farms into approximately 5,000 independent, commercial dehkan (peasant) farms that were each between 50-100 hectares. USAID has supported the Government of Tajikistan’s efforts since 2004 through a series of programs which focused on: restructuring and breaking up these large commercial dehkan farms into individual and family dehkan farms; registering land use rights and issuing land use rights certificates of people’s land plots; and granting “freedom to farm,” e.g. allowing farmers to choose what crops to grow.

These actions produced tangible results. Land reform and farm restructuring has reorganized most of the 5,000 commercial dehkan farms into a current total of 140,000 family and individual dehkan farms. Individual and family dehkan farms now cover 81 percent of Tajikistan’s irrigated agricultural land (500,000 hectares) and 100,000 hectares of orchards. Within the Feed the Future Zone of Influence, women own land use rights on 42.6 percent of land, which is double the rate of ownership outside of the zone.

Additionally, the Freedom to Farm policy has significantly reduced government influence over what farmers grow. A World Bank survey on the impact of land registration found that the percentage of farmers growing cotton dropped from 51 percent in 2007 to only 12 percent in 2015, with a corresponding increase in the percentage growing high value vegetable and orchard crops (41 percent increase in farmers growing onions, 42 percent increase for potatoes, and 36 percent increase in orchards).

During the implementation of USAID’s previous Land Reform and Farm Restructuring Program, the updated Land Code amendments were adopted and, in concert with the Inter-Ministerial Working Group, the Government and Parliament successfully approved a number of critical regulations, including the adoption of a completely new Law on Dehkan (Peasant) Farms that was approved in March 2016. This new law should provide an increased sense of security to citizens. This security is critical if we expect people to sustainably care for their land and make key investments to increase the productivity of their land for agriculture or other purposes.

Final thoughts?

Drafting and adopting the implementing regulations for land reform in Tajikistan is only the beginning. More effort is needed to create an active and transparent land use rights market. USAID in Tajikistan continuously works with government counterparts to ensure understanding and buy-in in regards to strengthening land rights and reforming land policy in the country. USAID encourages the government to develop additional institutions, like registration, valuation, and mortgages to enable the development of a functioning land market. This is an important step to increase food security in Tajikistan.

Originally appeared on Exposure.