Colin Jean-Philippe. (2017). Contractual practice and land conflicts : the "Plant & Share" arrangement in Côte d'Ivoire. Journal of Agrarian Change, 17 (1), p. 144-165. ISSN 1471-0366.
Titre du document
Contractual practice and land conflicts : the "Plant & Share" arrangement in Côte d'Ivoire
Journal of Agrarian Change, 2017,
17 (1), p. 144-165 ISSN 1471-0366
This paper tackles the broad issue of agrarian contracts, property rights and conflicts in the context of rural Côte d'Ivoire. Since the beginning of the 2000s, a new type of contractual arrangement has been developing rapidly: the 'Plant & Share' contract. Through such a contract, a landowner provides the land to a farmer who develops a perennial tree crop plantation; when production starts, the plantation, the plantation and the land, or the product is shared. The aim of the paper is to discuss the conflictive features of the arrangement. I argue that this contract, in spite of its potential for tensions and conflicts, constitutes an alternative to the much more conflictive land sales that currently dominate extra-familial land transfers in the country.