ONDICHO CLINTON THOMAS

ESSQ/01359/2016

LAND TENURE SYSTEMS

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING (Geospatial Option)

QUESTION

Compare and Contrast Land Tenure System in Kenya and Land Tenure System in France.

In Kenya, we have three types of land tenure that is public land, community land and private

land. Five land tenure systems are discernible according to the constitution of Kenya which:

public tenure system, private tenure system, customary tenure system, informal tenure system

and Ten Mile Coastal Strip. In France, most of the lands are adjudicated and can be either

freehold or leasehold under public or private tenure system.

However, in France, there was land tenure known as feudalism where Lords who had farmers

working for them in large tracks of land. The farmers paid either by produce or annually by

banknotes

In France, there was the setback of land fragmentation due to over parceling of the land. There

were policies put in place to curb this problem. Some were that family land below 200,000 francs

in agricultural value was indivisible if it was family property. In both countries, consolidation

was done on the fragmented parcels. In France, it was done through two methods, amicable

exchange of owners in the same localities. The land exchanged was based on the productive

value and not sale value to ensure that underproductive land was not exchanged with productive

land of the same value.

Both countries have community rights attached to the land. This has been manifested through

rights to graze water animals and use rights for communal land. In France, however due to lack

of these communal lands, community rights are on private land. For example the Glanage rights
states that a community can harvest produce left behind after the harvesters have done their job.

This law prohibited the landowners not to allow animals to graze in the fields for two days

allowing the community to collect the remains of the harvest. It was limited to old people,

children and amputees.

In Kenya, the leasehold properties are in urban centers only. The properties are sold in either

price or tenancy in terms of periodic payments. In France, in rural set ups ,leases exists in form

of metayage and fermage.In Metayage,the tenant cultivated the land of the lord and paid rent in

terms of the fraction of the produce. In Fermage, the rent was paid in terms of banknotes.

In Kenya, there were settlement schemes where the natives were re allocated land that had been

alienated to white settlers. In France, there were no allocations since there were no large estates

to be settled in.

Just like Kenya where lands were allocated to British settlers, in France lands were allocated to

seigneurs who were rich and wealthy. The Lords hosted the farmers who paid rent in form of a

fraction of the produce. This is a form of leasehold because they could be evicted at any time.

However, they could not leave at their own pleasure up until the law was abolished.

In Kenya, the foreign settlers displaced the local people to local reserves unlike in France. Both

of these, where in Kenya there was displacement of the people to African Reserves and in France

where there was powerful Lords who held farmers who in turn paid rent to them, led to

revolution in land in both countries.