Land tenure is particularly complex in many African countries. In Madagascar, poor rural people have generally been barred from owning the land they depend on for their survival.

In February 2005, the Government of Madagascar introduced a land policy to improve land tenure security across the country. The policy offers Malagasies an opportunity to formalize ownership of the land they depend on, using a much simpler certification process. Two IFAD-funded projects are supporting this extensive programme.

As part of one IFAD-funded project, local land administration offices have been issuing land certificates to local people to secure tenure of the land they are working.

“I’m very happy to have my land certified,” says Bruno Zafimihary, a rice and cassava farmer who recently received a certificate declaring him owner of his 5 hectares of land. “This new system is a quick and easy way of securing our land. Now the land is safe for my children and grandchildren.”

In addition to supporting the Government’s new land policy, the project provides key infrastructure in the region, such as rehabilitation of irrigation systems and roads, and helps diversify and intensify agricultural production for smallholders.

One of the challenges is to ensure that land certificates are distributed equitably, including to the poorest and most vulnerable members of communities.

There are other obstacles to overcome. It has been difficult to obtain complete satellite images of the area. But without them, it is hard for communities to agree on the delimitation of boundaries. Moreover, rural people with no birth certificate, and therefore no identity card, are barred from applying for a land certificate. A new IFAD-funded programme, designed to promote microenterprises, will support government services in delivering identity papers to those who lack them.

At the end of 2008, the Government still needed to resolve land rights involving former colonial plantations, which it wanted to use to develop agribusiness plots for foreign companies and diversify the agricultural economy. But this became biased, and in 2009 it appeared that a giant foreign company was trying to grab 1 million hectares (700,000 for maize and 300,000 for oil palm plantation). The population, very much sensitized to land issues, reacted strongly and this was one of the major causes of the collapse of the Government in March 2009.