Abstract

For small-scale farmers who rely on it for their livelihood, land is a substantial source of wealth and an essential source of income. Land is also important in ancestral worship, as well as cultural and social functions in the lives of the locals.

Prior to colonialism, the availability of land allowed people to build ancestral shrines where they worshiped their ancestors’ gods, as well as monuments and graves of their ancestors.

Rural development, poverty alleviation, and environmental management are all dependent on land. To man, land is either a means to an end or an endless resource.

The purpose of this study is to look at the socioeconomic effects of large-scale land acquisition on small-scale farmers and laborers in the Ndawara tea estate in the Ngoketunjia Division.

A large-scale land purchase proposal was investigated. The study relied on Social Conflict Theory, Karl Marx’s 1818-883 Maxist anthropological theory, and Scoones’ 1998 sustainable livelihood paradigm.

Data was collected using an anthropological technique, and the study was qualitative and exploratory in nature. Twenty-three respondents (23) were interviewed from the target group, which included small-scale farmers, employees, and government officials. Purposive (judgmental) sampling was used in the study.

Tables, bar and pie charts, and pictures were used to evaluate and show the data. The following were discovered as a result of this research: Women who are indigenes and elite in the research region had either migrated or married outside of the village, therefore there were more males than women in the study area.

Most plantations’ labor force is always centered in the age groups that are more active and responsible in carrying out their responsibilities, namely the older age group, which varies from 41 to 58 years.

Investors no longer follow the proper procedures to acquire big parcels of property in local communities. The findings reveal that large-scale agricultural investments did not result in the construction of the promised facilities.

The Babungo people attempted to retaliate for the destruction of their lands and water catchment by blocking the major road leading to the Ndawara tea plantation, but law enforcement personnel constantly intervened in favor of the investment. To fight for their lands, the Mbororo people formed the Mbororo Social, Cultural, and Development Association (MBOSCUDA).

To fight MBOSCUDA’s operations, the investor formed the Société de Development d’Elevage (SODELCO), which is made up of non-Mbororos graziers. Local residents are being supported in their struggle for their rights by well-known NGOs in the region.

The study offers researchers with current, verified data, particularly at the local level.

To conclude, the advent of land tenure reform in the colonial and post-colonial era, proved that state and not local administrators became the custodian of land. This reduced the powers of the Fons drastically to that of competitors for land.

The report suggests that the government and local authorities take steps to decrease land-related disputes around the Ndawara tea plantation in Ngoketunjia Division, as well as to prevent wealthy and politically strong persons from forcibly relocating peasants from communal or ancestral land.

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