Fewer than 10% of all plots of land in Uganda are formally registered, with most of the registered plots being in urban centres (MLHUD, 2017). Rural populations are particularly likely to lack the documentation to prove their land rights. For this reason, traditional land ownership rights can often be established only with testimony from neighbours, village elders or clan representatives. Issuing land titles is a lengthy and costly process where surveying of a small land parcel of a quarter of an acre can incur costs of up to 2 million Ugandan Shilling (Musinguzi et al., 2020). For most of the rural population this is prohibitive. Overlap of ownership and user rights on mailo land in the Central region causes large productivity inefficiencies and losses (Ali & Duponchel, 2018).

Land documentation in Mityana, Mubende and Kassanda Districts

One of the results of the GIZ RELAPU and ILGU project in Mityana, Mubende and Kassanda Districts are Land Inventory Protocols (LIPs) handed out to households, which include all necessary information on the land such as name of the claimant(s), neighbours, clans, location of parcel, inclusive boundary points which are georeferenced in a point coordinate register. A LIP is a social document that provides for evidence of customary land ownership (on customary tenure) or land occupancy rights (on private Mailo tenure) as claimed by the person(s) indicated in this document and ascertained by the Area Land Committee, after an inspection of the land. The LIP is issued by the chairperson of the respective Area Land Committee. It serves as a support in case a household applies for an official Certificate of Customary Ownership (CCO) or Certificate of Occupancy (CoO).

As of February 2020, in the Mityana, Mubende and Kassanda Districts 55,000 parcels representing 37,000 hectares and 45,612 households have been mapped, resulting in 16,600 LIPs so far with more on the way.

Use of land documentation by financial institutions to increase agricultural lending in Mityana, Mubende and Kassanda Districts

Under contract with GIZ, UAA is engaging key financial institutions serving Mityana, Mubende and Kassanda Districts to use the Land Inventory Protocols (LIPs) and Certificates of Occupancy (CoOs) given to farmers in their Districts as a result of ILGU Field of Action 1, as positive considerations in decisions to provide credit services to small scale farmers in Mityana and Mubende (and Kassanda) Districts. As part of the project, key decision makers at the head office, and key branch officers of selected financial institutions (banks, microfinance institutions and SACCOs) are being approached to make commitments to use LIPs and CoOs. The project also involves working with the Uganda Bankers Association and top leadership of some of the more promising agricultural financing institutions to enlighten them about the outcomes of the project and increase their interest in it. Scouting/sensitization visits are being carried out to the premises of the most relevant agricultural financing institutions in Mityana, Mubende and Kassanda Districts to determine their experience of and feedback on LIPs/CoOs, and to sensitize them on the LIPs, CoOs and CCOs if they do not know about them. After the scouting/sensitization exercise, the project involves small Task Group meetings of participants of the financial institutions most interested in the LIP/CoO to develop a workplan/action plan outlining best ways on how to improve access to finance based on the LIP and CoO; and a virtual meeting presenting this workplan to the Uganda Bankers Association and top leadership of agricultural financing institutions at the national level.