Gender Analysis of the Impact of Large-Scale Land Acquisition on Rural Women in Cameroon

Large-scale land acquisitions (LSLA) in Cameroon are carried out both by foreign and national investors. Most of the land is taken over is land where rural communities have only used rights claimed by effective occupation but without legal rights before corporate acquisition. The NdawaraTea Estates (NTE) is one of the corporate investorsthathas legal claims to the vast quantities of land in the North West Region.Recently, the women who had been in effective occupation and exploitation of land in the region were forcefully displaced by NTE on grounds of its legal ownership(land certificate). Using the example of the NTE, the study examines the impact of LSLA on women’seconomic and social performances and its implication on their contribution to national development. Indepth interviews are conductedwithaffectedwomen, local authorities and authorities of plantation companies to understand the dynamics, processes of land take over and plantation investments and women’sdevelopment. The HavardAnalytical Framework isused to carry out the genderanalysis. Although the framework has four functionaltools (1 Activity profile; 2) Access and control profile; 3) influencingfactors; and 4) Project cycle analysis), thispaperconcentrates on the activity, the access and control profiles. The activity profile helps to answer the question ‘whodoeswhat’ by gender and thusenable us to understand the economic and social structure of communitieswhose land has been taken over by corporateinvestors. Findingspoint to genderdifferential impacts of LSLA in-terms of gains and loses on the population. This affect women’srole in food and environmentalsecurities. There isthereforeneed to engender the processes of land take-over by corporateinvestors and the types ofinvestmentsso as to ensurewin-winoutcomes for investors, affectedcommunities and women.