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Abstract:
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"In Nigeria, the key stakeholders in land and agriculture are the smallholder farming households. They constitute about 70 percent of the active labor force and produce more than 60 percent of the food consumed. Thus, their role in achieving a reduction in poverty and food insecurity cannot be ignored. However, these farmers are typically among the poorest and the most neglected in development support and investment terms. In most cases, rural households are displaced from their lands without any plan in place to resettle or compensate them, for a promise of improvement in their living standards through the promotion of agricultural investment, provision of housing and building of industries in their communities. This has not only resulted in a decline in the living standard of the rural populace in terms of loss of land and livelihood, the poor are also further marginalized and impoverished. In many cases, these land deals are accompanied by violence and conflict, thus compromising the lives and livelihoods of entire generations to come. It also threatens the welfare and survival of the people as food insecurity and lack of jobs, displacement, and reduced living standard becomes the order of the day. Yet, in most economies, the focus has been mainly on large-scale land acquisitions by foreigners while the more serious ‘land grabbing’ in rural societies by national and local elites has been ignored. This has deepened concerns about the possible negative effects that increased demand and competition for land and water are having on the land rights and food security of rural people. Based on the foregoing and the insufficient empirical information on the effect of land grabs on the livelihoods of rural communities, this study examines the welfare implication of domestic land grabs among rural households in Delta State, Nigeria, employing primary data obtained from one hundred and seventy-three representative farming households. Descriptive analysis revealed that majority were low-income earners engaged in farming as their major occupation while econometric analysis revealed that land size, secondary education and primary occupation of household heads, community leaders influence, compensation and the use to which the grabbed land was put into as some of the significant factors influencing domestic land grabs in the study area. Further, the size of land grabbed, no compensation for the use of land and low farm output were found to have negative effects on the welfare of the farmers. Thus, the need to step up efforts to secure local land rights to help local people avoid being arbitrarily dispossessed of their land becomes imperative. Also, there is the need for commensurate compensation of rural households whose lands were grabbed and periodical checks on community leaders who positively influence domestic land acquisitions arbitrarily. This is pertinent for improvement in the welfare of the farmers especially if these small-scale farmers are to be part of the solution for global food security."
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