ABSTRACT
Of all the resources necessary for subsistence (other than one’s own labour), by far the most important is land. In terms of development projects and programs, control of land acquires importance not only in its own right, but as security for credit, and often as providing the criterion for people’s access to inputs such as agricultural extension, physical plant, irrigation, chemical inputs and membership of co-operatives. Without land, people lose their security and are reduced to a state of dependence on those with land for the provision of employment. In many countries the colonial experience involved whole populations being reduced to serfdom through their deprivation of land.1 Similarly, control of land use and its products is of critical importance to women.
