Africa welcomes first continental land policy framework, guidelines

Abstract

The Framework and Guidelines for Land Policy in Africa were launched in the Malawian capital today, raising hopes Africa can put order and coherence in its land governance, to effectively avert what is widely perceived as another scramble for its lands. The launching ceremony was organised to coincide with this year’s annual Conference of African Ministers of Agriculture (CAMA), on the theme “Delivering on Africa’s Agricultural Development Agenda”, and presided over by the African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Ms Tumusiime Rhoda Peace. In a hall packed with members of the Malawian government, representatives of the African Land Policy Initiative (LPI), academics, investors and leaders of farmers’ organisations, Mr. Josué Dioné, Director of the Food Security and Sustainable Development Division at Economic Commission for Africa first took the floor to stress the purely consultative role and technical nature of the Framework and Guidelines.