São Tomé and Príncipe the Land Reforms of the 1990

From state control to private ownership  

After gaining independence from Portugal on July 12, 1975, São Tomé and Príncipe nationalized all land, establishing large state-run agricultural cooperatives managed by the government. These cooperatives primarily focused on cocoa production but exhibited significant inefficiencies. As a result, agricultural output plummeted from 10,000 tons annually in the early 1900s to less than 1,000 tons by the mid-1980s.

The country's economy, which heavily relied on cocoa exports, faced stagnation, leading to high unemployment and increasing migration to urban areas. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, influenced by structural adjustment programs from the IMF and World Bank, the government began to recognize the need for a market-oriented economy. These reforms aimed to address the inefficiencies of state control, redistribute land to individual farmers, and promote smallholder agriculture to enhance productivity and food security.

Objectives and Implementation

The land reform program officially started in 1991, with several key objectives:Land 

Redistribution: Transition land from state control to private ownership or long-term leases, breaking up large state-run farms into smaller plots.

Empowerment of Smallholders: Encourage smallholder agriculture to boost productivity, improve food security, and reduce reliance on imports.

Social Equity: Provide land to former agricultural workers, particularly serviçais, to reduce landlessness and rectify historical inequalities rooted in the colonial plantation system.Implementation involved surveying and titling land, a complex process given the lack of clear land tenure records.

 By 1995, around 8,735 farmers received land titles or leases, supported by the technical assistance and funding of the World Bank. The focus was on integrating previously landless individuals into the agricultural economy.

Impacts and Outcomes of the land reforms of the 1990s

The land reforms had mixed consequences for the agricultural sector and the broader economy, resulting in both positive and negative outcomes:

Positive Impacts:

• Reduced Landlessness: The reforms successfully provided land to many previously landless individuals, especially serviçais, thereby helping integrate them into the agricultural economy and potentially reducing rural poverty.

Increased Number of Smallholder Farmers: The reforms led to a proliferation of small farms, resulting in about 60% of the population being employed in agriculture by 2019, marking a shift toward more equitable land distribution.

Negative Impacts:

• Low Productivity: The fragmentation of land holdings complicated efforts for smallholder farmers to achieve economies of scale, resulting in low agricultural productivity. Despite significant employment in the sector, agriculture contributed only about 10% to GDP, underscoring the challenges within the agricultural framework.

• Decline in Cocoa Production: Once a major export, cocoa production waned as smallholders had difficulty maintaining the output levels achieved by larger, state-run farms. By the late 1990s, production had stabilized at approximately 3,000–5,000 tons annually, far below the peak of 35,000 tons in 1908.

Ongoing Challenges: 

Structural weaknesses in the agricultural sector persisted, including limited access to credit, inadequate technical assistance, and vulnerability to climate change. These challenges hindered the reforms from achieving their intended goals of heightened productivity and food security.

Current Status and Ongoing Efforts

The legacy of the land reforms of the 1990s continues to shape São Tomé and Príncipe's agricultural landscape. Ongoing efforts focus on addressing the limitations identified in those reforms. The government, alongside international organizations like the FAO and UNDP, has aimed to improve land tenure security, enhance access to credit, and provide agricultural extension services.

While approximately 60% of the population remains employed in agriculture, the sector continues to contribute only about 10% to GDP. Efforts to diversify into high-value crops such as organic cocoa and coffee have gained traction, and tourism—especially eco-tourism related to historical roças—has surfaced as a potential economic booster enhanced by foreign aid. However, challenges remain significant, with climate change and adverse weather events like the heavy rains in December 2021 damaging horticultural production and exacerbating rural poverty.