**4. Results and Discussion**

This section describes the results based on households' perceptions and experiences about land dispute resolution in the context of the study areas. First, the pattern of land disputes is presented, followed by the different landholders' experiences and perceptions regarding land dispute resolution pathways. Drawing on these findings, the contemporary role of customary land dispute resolution institutions is then discussed, highlighting the challenges and opportunities for integration into the statutory framework towards bolstering local tenure security and equitable land management.

## *4.1. Patterns of Land Disputes in Ankasa and Kakum*

The changing context of customary tenure relations exemplified by widespread monetisation and exclusions in the Ankasa and Kakum regions have been described elsewhere [8]. Within this context of evolutionary changes in customary tenure dynamics, it was pertinent to understand the patterns of emerging land-related disputes and stakeholders' perceptions, as manifested in the study areas3. Thus, on the question of whether the surveyed communities had experienced any disputes within the last five years, it appears from the survey data that land-related disputes were more pronounced in the Kakum context. Of the 232 respondents interviewed in Kakum, 60% confirmed the prevalence of landrelated disputes in their respective communities relative to just 28% (or 41 respondents) who alluded to same in Ankasa. To further ascertain the extent to which land disputes were problematic, the respondents' views were solicited based on five-point Likert scale measurement (ranging from not a problem to a serious problem), as shown in Table 1.

<sup>2</sup> Twi is the most widely spoken language amongst the Akan tribal groupings of southern Ghana.

<sup>3</sup> Recognising the sensitivity of land issues and the tendency for respondents to either exaggerate or withhold information about the subject, care was taken when soliciting respondents' views on the incidence of land-related disputes in their respective communities. The question was approached from different angles to ascertain the factual situation on the ground.


**Table 1.** Severity of land disputes in the surveyed communities.

It is quite clear from Table 1 that land disputes were prevalent in almost all the surveyed communities in Kakum, except for Seidukrom, Nkwanta and Kwaku-Mmore, which appeared to be the least problematic relative to the other communities. Juxtaposing to Ankasa' s context, a similar pattern is discernible across all the studied communities except for Kusasi and Nyamebekyere, which portrayed a negative perception to the above statement, with mean community scores of 2.10 and 2.74, respectively (less than the median value of 3). It can therefore be suggested that the incidence of land disputes appeared to be very problematic in the communities with high land scarcity, particularly in the Kakum area (e.g., Totoda, Kwame-Anang). This, in a way, highlights the growing tensions and/or disputes with regards to land access, with potentially negative implications for the security of land rights of some local landholders. Paradoxically, research and policy emphasis seem to be devoted to violent and large-scale disputes to the relative neglect of small-scale looming disputes, which have the propensity to escalate into full-blown large-scale disputes [52]. From the FGDs, participants expressed the view that disputes associated with land use created situations of uncertainty and insecurity about land rights. The foregoing analysis begs a typical question as to the nature of such intra-community disputes experienced in the study areas. Figure 2 therefore typifies the nature of landrelated disputes, as evidenced in the surveyed communities.

<sup>4</sup> The mean scores of communities were computed by aggregating individual responses to the statement divided by the total number of respondents surveyed in the respective communities.

As can be seen from Figure 2, sharecropping disputes constituted the commonest form of land-related disputes across the two case study regions. It was gathered from the key informant interviews that the incidence of land rental/sharecropping disputes was attributable to the oral, open-ended and variable nature of terms and conditions of the grant, which renders them highly susceptible to disputes. Generally, while most interviewees downplayed the seriousness of land disputes at the community level, focused and key-informant interviews showed that the impact of land-related disputes at the community level is very far-reaching, with negative consequences for tenure security and access arrangements.
