Zambia recognizes two types of land tenure: customary and leasehold tenure. While historically the majority of land in Zambia has been held under customary tenure, leases (also called leasehold titles) are the only legal means of holding land rights. In 1995, a new Land Act was passed, which makes it easier for investors to acquire leasehold titles to customary land. When an investor obtains a leasehold title to customary land, the customary land reverts to the state once the lease expires and is thereafter governed by statute.

This paper analyses the Zambian land governance system, the actors and institutions shaping it and its reaction to the new interest in farmland. We draw theories from New Institutional Economics and base our empirical analyses on expert interviews and focus group discussions conducted in Zambia. 

This report was commissioned by UN-Habitat to review the laws and land tenure of a selected number of southern African countries. It involved the appointment of country specialists who researched and produced country chapters for their respective countries namely, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. A regional expert was appointed to produce a regional overview to serve as a source document for the country reports, as well as provide overall coordination of the project. The project was carried out over a period of roughly one year, which began in March 2004.

The purpose of the research is to: 1) investigate the interpretation of the sections in the Lands Act of 1995 that provide for the statutory recognition on one hand, and conversion of customary land, on the other; and 2) discuss the effects of the said sections on customary landholders. Methodologically, qualitative methods (largely in-depth interviews) were used to conclude that governments in sub-Sahara Africa are the architects of tenure insecurity because they (knowingly or otherwise) enact laws that are contradictory or conflicting in nature.

In their quest for economic development through increased private investment, many developing countries are reformulating land policies to pave way for the transformation of communal land rights into private property. However, these customary land reform efforts have often been frustrated by indigenous people who feel such proposals threaten rural livelihoods and undermine the traditional political structures. Most of the research on this subject has focused on whether, how and/or to what extent the objectives of land reforms (e.g.

Land is the centre of most conflicts in Northeast India because of its importance in the life of the people of the region, particularly its tribal communities. It is also the resource most under attack, in the tribal areas in particular.

This book contains studies papers conducted by a group of researchers on land alienation in different states of the Northeast in 2005-2006.

The book attempt to understand the processes that result in tribal land alienation and the consequent conflicts in the region.

The study has established that customary land in Zambia is enormously significant because land is central to human existence and a large proportion of Zambians depend on it for their livelihood. Customary land in Zambia is the source of food and other necessaries for human existence for the villagers whose entire spectrum of perceptions of life are rooted in the cultural configurations and heritage of rural activities. Further, the study has found that the land can be made more productive without converting it to leasehold.

The purpose of the research is to assess the land governance system in preventing state land conflicts in Zambia. In order to obtain insights about the actual realities on the ground, based on a case study strategy (i.e. Lusaka District has a study area), the research examined the present status of state land governance system, and investigated the efficiency of the present state land governance system in preventing state land conflicts.

The Government of Zambia is embarking on an ambitious program of legal and administrative reforms in land policy. Although the need to liberalize the land market is universally shared, the ideas on how to accomplish this transformation are not. Two decades of underinvestment in field research have resulted in the present situation of micro-level data on land tenure and farm-level production, consumption, and resource management inadequate to guide policy decisions.

The Land tenure system in Zambia is divided in the following administrative segments: colonial period

1880-1964; immediate post independence 1964-1975, post independence period of one party political

Despite extensive research into rural development in sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about structural transformation1 in rural areas on the continent. Zambia was chosen as one of three case study countries2 in order to identify and to analyse rural transformation processes and their main influencing forces aiming at defining strategies and measures to influence such processes towards social inclusiveness and environmental sustainability until 2030.
Zambia shows a persisting copper-dependent mono-structure with selective transformation processes

The global finance, energy and food crises are fuelling a global rush for land in developing countries. In their search for land, political leaders and investors look to Africa as a potential food supplier for the rest of the world. However, the current trend of land liberalisation rarely offers a solution to sustainable food production and poverty reduction among smallhold farmers in rural areas, as shown by this case study.