Over one hundred and seventy thousand land certificates were handed over to Mandoto yesterday. A land security operation to boost agricultural production.
“AleFa Karatany”. Words said by Marie Chantal Uwanyiligira, head of World Bank operations, in Mandoto yesterday. Dithyrambic, she split these few words in Malagasy to affirm her enthusiasm for the positive impact that the operation carried out yesterday will have on rural development and, more broadly, that of the country.
A ceremony chaired by Andry Rajoelina, President of the Republic, in the presence of Christian Ntsay, Prime Minister, some members of the government and the local boss of the World Bank was held in Mandoto yesterday. The purpose of the event is to distribute “land certificates” to thousands of farmers from several municipalities in the Vakinankaratra region. Nearly one hundred and seventy thousand land certificates were thus given to as many new landowners.
To stick to the speech of Marie-Chantal Uwanyiligira, the land certificate protects the lands of its holder, as much as a land title. The procedure and conditions for benefiting from it are significantly lighter, however. For the Head of State, this facility for securing land for farmers, essentially, is an opportunity to boost agricultural production. “(…) because of the international situation, we are forced to wage a war against food insecurity, to win our food independence,” declared the President of the Republic.
matter of dignity
The Head of State adds, “our strategy is simple, access to land ownership. I am convinced that this is the right way to overcome poverty throughout the Island. Our army are the farmers and their ammunition of fertilizers, seeds and agricultural materials”. The representative of the World Bank maintains that “it is not only an economic question, it is also a question of human dignity”.
A question of security and dignity to benefit from a land certificate, a farmer will have to demonstrate to a local commission, attached to a land office at the level of each municipality, that he has developed land for at least five years. The operation carried out yesterday in Mandoto is carried out in partnership with the Agricultural Growth and Land Security Project (CASEF), financed by the World Bank. This is why Marie-Chantal Uwanyiligira displays so much enthusiasm for its realization.
The local boss of the Bretton Woods institution explains the concrete impact on the improvement of the living conditions of the beneficiaries of the land certificate, taking the example of a certain Rasolofo, a farmer from Antanifotsy, whom she met. She indicates that according to a study, a farmer who developed land needed 2 to 4 million ariary over a period of 6 to 10 years, before obtaining a land title. To obtain a land certificate, Rasolo would have spent only 5,000 ariary and a few months.
“With the guarantee of the land certificate, he was able to have a larger loan than when he pledged his zebus, his cart or his motorcycle, considered perishable. He thus had a larger cash flow. This allowed him to invest in new corn and soybean crops. Large agro-food companies from Antsirabe came to collect his products on the spot and after a few months of savings, he was able to open a grocery store”, Marie-Chantal Uwanyiligira narrates.
Highlighting the importance of the cultural value of land for Malagasy people, the World Bank official argues, “it is essential that people feel protected by the law in case of possible conflicts. This insurance is necessary for a better investment in their land, but also to bequeath a heritage to their children. Being sure of one’s right to one’s land is not only an economic issue of ownership, it is also and above all a question of security, food security, psychological security, human dignity”.