Contenu du sommaire : Question foncière et dynamiques territoriales dans les pays du Sud

Land control, pastoral specialization in the South of Veracruz (Mexico). Analysis of a pioneer front maturation process Within the framework of the “march to the sea” policy (the colonization of Mexico's tropical regions), from the early 1950s extensive areas in the South of the State of Veracruz were integrated in the movement towards agro-pastoral colonization. The article aims to show how in half a century, the economic transformations led by the Mexican State contributed to shaping the land structures in the specific context of a pioneer front. The analysis is based on inquiries conducted in the municipality of Playa Vicente on colonies (a particular type of land structure resulting from the land subsidies policies made within the framework of the Mexican agrarian reform) and on a close examination of the agrarian archives. The internal dynamics of the colonies are studied alongside other aspects of analysis. Two of these received special attention : the influence of public intervention measures, in particular the role of access to credit in the 1970s and 1980s, then the disengagement of the Mexican State ; and regional-scale relations through analysis of the economic and social connections with the nearby spaces dominated by private property (pineapple production in Isla municipality ; stock-breeders in the rest of the municipality of Playa Vicente). The economic dynamics shed light on the land relations at work, with a dominant tendency towards the reproduction of disparities.

Share breeding in Mexico. Land colonization and dynamics of an agrarian system in contemporary history Share cropping, a widespread practice before the revolution, which then was no longer talked about or was even denied during the process of agrarian reform, has been developing again in Mexico since the 1950s, in a revised form : cattle leasing. The resulting new social relationship has become characteristic of pioneer fronts of beef cattle breeding over a large portion of the tropical regions, particularly near the country's Atlantic coastline, receiving higher rainfall and more favourable for pasture to grow. In contrast to the classic form of share cropping, characterized by a monopoly the large-scale property owners exert over land, this version operates under a system of reverse tenancy. Most farmers benefiting from colonization programmes possessed insufficient means of production and were compelled to call upon the large-scale stock-breeders to provide them with the cattle necessary to develop the land they were allocated, in exchange for payment of half the proceeds to the livestock owner. The spread of cattle leasing therefore reveals a certain continuity in the balance of power between the different components of the rural society, persisting beyond the agrarian reform. Land ownership has become a secondary component in these interrelationships, whereas control over capital is now the important factor and is the basis of the livestock owners' hegemony.

Territorial planning and access to natural resources.Review of the participatory approach to land security measures in Cameroon North Cameroon region is an area which receives migrant populations and which for nearly 20 years has experienced accelerated population growth and competition between the different users for access to natural resources. This situation brings into relief the emergence of the land rights question. That issue was not properly integrated into development projects until the 1990s. The projects are now innovating by adopting participatory approaches and rural community management measures. They arrange agreements and set up structures with the brief to find solutions to conflicts related to access to resources. But how long will these measures remain effective ? Analysis of the ways in which participation was organized concerning several projects conducted in the municipality of Touroua indicates the processes of joint elaboration of regulations. The results prompt reflection on the institutional solutions envisaged for ensuiring land rights security in North Cameroon.

An unobtainable land ownership negotiation ? The example of Mayo-Rey in Northern Cameroon In the most powerful Fula sultanate of North Cameroon, Rey Bouba, a boundary marking operation was inaugurated after 1996, on the disputed rural boundaries in a zone of coexistence between migrants and autochthonous communities. After eight years of boundary marking installation, led first by a Project, then a research unit (TERDEL) the traditional rulers stopped the process and ordered the markings under negotiation to be pulled out. In this way the traditional rulers have asserted their primacy over the land. The central administration is absent on land ownership affairs and the government is accepting withdrawal of the State, negotiated at Rey on the basis of some well understood electoral issues. Civil Society and NGOs are nonexistent. On the “technical” supervision side, SODECOTON, a parastatal firm, accused of being at the service of migrants, was not considered neutral in 2005. The Development Agency in charge of land ownership therefore found itself helpless in the face of the traditional rulers alone. All negotiation concerning secure establishment of land ownership hence seems to have become impossible.

New actors, new products and expansion of the land market in Northern Peru The diversity in land market trends in three case studies on the northern coast of Peru poses questions on the interaction of locale geographical factors (situation, agrarian structure, etc.) and national policies. In one case we observe the acquisition of land by agro-industrial firms which develop new crops for exportation and wish to ensure independently that the product satisfies international market requirements. In the other cases, however, the absence of new farm products, or even of new actors, does not necessarily cause a low level of activity on the land-property market, and producers of rice, sugar cane and coffee also try to enlarge their plantations. The key to this diversity is the variable quantity of collectively-owned unexploited pieces of land and their accessibility for potential investors. The latter depends on physical or spatial characteristics (the proximity of roads, climate, etc.) but also on the pre-existing status of property, the result of complex agrarian histories which are more or less easily modifiable according to the liberal legislation of the 1990s. All in all, these well-differentiated territories react in varied ways to the new economic and legal context.