3.1 Notes on Land Tenure in Kake

The First Settlers

The first settlers in this community were the "Bakundus" and today they are called the natives. When they came in the 1 8th century the whole area was forested.

At that time a man and his wife could only clear a small portion of land to plant something to eat. Since they had not got instruments like the present day engine-saw they felled the trees by constant burning until the trees fell. They knew of no cash crops' at that time until the coming of the Europeans who opened the CDC.

The Introduction of Cash Crops

As these early settlers had no source of money, many of them left their wives and joined the CDC so that they could buy wrappers as present for Christmas. Their wives remained behind to take care of the little plot.

When cocoa was first introduced by the CDC most of these men did funny things. In order to have cocoa growing in Kake, a man would swallow the seeds of about three to four pods of cocoa, and would not go to the toilet until he had reached his home at Kake. His toilet was a special area which would be termed a nursery today. When these seeds germinated he transplanted them. The wife took good care of them while he himself went back to the job site. That is how the first cocoa trees appeared in Kake, through smuggling.

The Arrival of Strangers

The first strangers to come to Kake were from the North West, the Metas. They were hard-working, obeying the natives and doing everything for them. After a period of eight years these strangers wanted land to plant their own food crops. This was given them after all the natives in the village had sat down to see whether they could grant this request of the strangers. The strangers were given a strong warning that only food crops were to be planted and no cash crops like cocoa. No money was demanded from them. The land was given as a compensation for their work to their native masters over eight years.

Strangers Begin to Buy Land

These strangers worked according to directives from the natives for a long time. What brought the rift between these strangers and the natives was the digging out of palm trees from the strangers' land by natives every Christmas in order to have palm wine. The strangers felt they were toiling for the natives and so sent a delegation to the natives asking if they could buy the areas of land that they had received.

The natives thus received from the strangers sums ranging from 40 marks in German money and after some time L5-L10 in English money and in addition a jug of palm wine, a goat or pig, a basin of porridge plantain, a bag of salt, a head of tobacco, a packet of cigarettes, a bottle of cognac (or whisky), a shirt, a hat, a loin-cloth. All this had to be given for an already cultivated piece of land. After this process the strangers had permanent rights over the land they had bought. At a stranger's death, the rights passed to his next of kin.

The natives could say or do nothing, as they had officially given out that portion of land.

Present-day Trends: Pledging a Farm of Cocoa

The owner demands a certain amount of money for pledging his land for a number of years, depending on the productivity of the farm. A person who works on the farm, whether stranger of native, hands over the amount, and the time he may work on the farm is settled by a written agreement specifying the terms. Immediately he hands over the amount of money to the owner the said farm becomes his until the stipulated time. The owner or his family is not allowed to enter the farm until the end of that period. This is the most common form of land tenure in this community now. Normally the money is not refunded after the said period. If the owner needs more money he can extend the time to the person pledging it. If the person who gave out the money dies a relative takes over until their time expires.

The "Two Party " System

On the other hand the majority of the young people are now working under a system of "two party". That is to say, the owner of the farm gives out his farm to a man he feels is capable of working on it. The person gives him a small compensation of about 5000- 8000 frs, and an agreement is written between them. The produce if that farm is shared equally between the two persons. The worker buys all the chemicals needed for the farm. If he has no money the owner pays, but at the time of the sales he subtracts the money before the general division is made. If the owner is not satisfied with his work he must wait until the end of the season to dismiss him. If he really wishes to dismiss him before the end of the season, he must compensate him for the work done from the beginning of the year until the time of the dismissal. The owner of the farm and his family have full rights to enter the farm and take whatever things they like Nobody can challenge them since they have not given up the farm by selling it.