Land tenure practices and land acquisitions in oil region: The case of Hoima, Western Uganda

Abstract

This study is regarding land tenure practices and land acquisitions in Hoima District in Western Uganda. Hoima district is located in the middle of the area called Albertine Graben, which is the area of newly discovered oil resources. To exploit these resources, the Government of Uganda is now planning and executing infrastructural developments in the area, which is resulting in land acquisitions.

One aims for this study is to understand the local practices of land tenure in the areas of Kaiso Tonya, Buseruka Kabale and Kyangwali, which can be found within the Hoima district. By identifying how land right is assigned and kept, and what institutions are managing the systems, an understanding of the local practices is presented.

Another aim is to understand how the processes of land acquisitions in the area are affecting the local farmers of these villages with a focus on land tenure. Through an evaluation of these land acquisitions based in the informants own experiences, local effects have been identified.

This study concludes that the local practices of land tenure in the areas visited can be classified as customary tenure systems which is held and managed within the community with little or no involvement from formal institutions.

This study also concludes that the land acquisitions in relation to the developments in the area are affecting the local farmers in a negative way, and that these acquisitions in this regard can be categorized as land grabbing.

The local customary land tenure can be identified as making the local population more vulnerable to land grabbing.