The issue of privatisation of land assets has two main aspects in the specific context of Sub-Saharan Africa. First, should land and natural resources that have traditionally been the common property of village communities be privatised? And, second, do the increasingly individualised rights which farmers hold on their agricultural lands need to be formalised by state authority and should their free tradeability be actively encouraged? In other words, should these rights be made the object of a full-fledged privatisation programme? These are the two questions addressed in the present essay with a view to drawing relevant policy implications.
