Impact of Agricultural Land Loss on Rural Livelihoods in Peri-Urban Areas: Empirical Evidence from Sebougou, Mali

Abstract

This study was part of a larger analysis of the framework of sustainable rural livelihoods in the face of urban sprawl in peri-urban rural areas of Mali. Contrary to the existing literature, which has mostly focused on issues of land rights in Mali due to the fact of urbanization, this study analyzed the consequences of urbanization in the city of Ségou on the major sources of livelihoods for residents in the neighboring rural municipality of Sebougou. Three villages in the municipality of Sebougou were selected due to the fact of their proximity to the city of Ségou. We interviewed 120 randomly sampled family heads using a structured questionnaire. The respondents were owners of farmlands or people who had lost their land as a result of urbanization. We analyzed the data using multi-linear and logistic regression models. The results showed that age, occupation, land size, and level of education had significant positive impacts on the farmers’ annual family income, while family size and gender exerted negative effects. Low-yield lands and youth emigration increased the likelihood of farmers losing their lands to urbanization. Conversely, land size, yearly income, and age had negative predictive effects on agrarian land loss. The results highlight the need for land management authorities to implement policies to protect agricultural land.

Assessing the Impacts of Expropriation and Compensation on Livelihood of Farmers: The Case of Peri-Urban Debre Markos, Ethiopia

“…Compensation should cover the total social costs of relocation in order to rebuild a foundation for the farmer to seek a sustainable livelihood [27]. However, a study [28] found that many land-lost farmers are dissatisfied with local government compensation standards. Compensation and resettlement standards currently in place are insufficient to help displaced landowners and rebuild long-term sustainable livelihoods [27].…”

“…Peri-urban farmers were expropriated from their homeland because of urban expansion to the outskirts [3,26]. Expropriation has a negative impact on the land-lost farmers' health through income and psychological effects [28,37]. Several studies [2,27,28] revealed that expropriation has a detrimental impact on the health of expropriated landholders.…”

“…Expropriation has a negative impact on the land-lost farmers' health through income and psychological effects [28,37]. Several studies [2,27,28] revealed that expropriation has a detrimental impact on the health of expropriated landholders. In addition, it has caused community and family tensions, as well as increased instability among expropriated landholders' families [38].…”

“…According to Guo et al [24], expropriation schemes have resulted in drastic changes in rural households' livelihoods in China. Expropriated farmers' incomes declined because of land loss, and their long-term livelihoods are jeopardized [3,23,24,28,29,39]. Apparently, the loss of farmlands has multiple negative effects on the livelihoods of these farming households [40].…”

Towards poverty alleviation in developing countries: An empirical study of the impact of land tenure reforms in Kati, Mali

“…Moreover, not only does urbanisation promote the loss of agricultural lands (e.g. due to youth emigration and low-yield of land) [ 44 ]. It also adversely affects customary rights [ 7 ], increasing the likelihood of farmers being dispossessed of their farmlands.…”