Impacts of Land Tenure Access and Use on Agricultural and Non-agricultural Resources in Rural and Peri-urban Areas in South-East Sierra Leone

Abstract

Examining the dynamics of land tenure and agricultural and non-agricultural resources in rural and peri-urban areas remains a grey area in the scientific discourse. To fill this knowledge gap using a case study in south-east Sierra Leone, qualitative data were acquired through key informant interviews and focus group discussions, whilst quantitative data were acquired through administering semi-structured questionnaires to 342 household heads who had resided in the study areas over the past three decades. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 26) was used for data analysis, and logistic regression and chi-square statistics were used to answer some key research questions. The findings revealed that land is mainly acquired by inheritance in rural areas, whilst in peri-urban areas, it is mainly by purchase. Family members can have access to land with the concurrence of the household head. Rice cultivated area is decreasing alongside an increase in cocoa and oil palm cultivated area, and this is attributable to the increase in access to land for cash crop production by native and non-native investors. With changes in land use, households now travel longer distances to access non-agricultural resources. There is a significant relationship between access to land, control over land, and the location of land, with crop production. An increase in access and control over land, and the location of land in a rural area, increases crop production. However, other variables like the size of land and the use of land demonstrated no significant relationship with crop production. Our findings provide insights that would benefit land use planning in an era of increasing population and land demand.