Land access in Akye country: Socioanthropological analysis of the Planter-Partager Sub-Prefecture Adzopé (Côte d'Ivoire)

In Côte d'Ivoire's Akyé society, land transactions used to be a thing of the past; nowadays, the planter-sharer system is a new land transaction to which the population is increasingly turning. The present study focused on the mode of access to planter-sharer land in the Sous-préfecture of Annepé. Interviews were conducted with the various key players involved in the "planter-sharer" system: land chiefs, customary chiefs, administrative authorities, farmers ceding land for the practice of the "abouya-chi" system, as well as land applicants on behalf of this system. The approach used in this study is qualitative, based on individual interviews and direct observation. Analysis of the adoption of the planter-sharer system has shown that farmers adopt this practice in order to own vast plantations, and to satisfy domestic burdens, since they do not expend any physical strength - the work is done by contracted labourers. The implications of the planter-sharer system have led to intra-family conflicts.