Aspects of resource tenure that conserve biodiversity: The case of southern and northern Ghana - Managing Agrodiversity the Traditional Way - page 218

• tree tenure, i.e. tenure with respect to economic trees, both planted and natur-

ally occurring

tenure with respect to other natural resources, notably snails, mushrooms, and
wildlife, especially game.
In Gyamfiase-Adenya the land is owned almost exclusively by extended families
of the native Akuapem people on the basis of the abusua matrilineal or patrilineal
kinship principle. Under this arrangement, members of the land-owning group have
free access to the land. They may grant it out permanently or temporarily to others,
including a growing number of tenants. A similar situation prevails in portions of
Amanase-Whanabenya which are settled by offspring of Akuapem migrant-settler
farmers who bought the land from Akyem/Akim people.
In other areas of Amanase-Whanabenya and in Sekesua-Osonson, the land is
owned respectively by offspring of Shai/Siade and Krobo migrant-settler farmers.
They bought the land also from Akyem people, according to the unique huza
arrangement.
From about the middle of the nineteenth century, Krobo farmers sought new
lands through an arrangement whereby individuals pooled their financial resources
through companies or cooperative groups. In the Dangbe language of the Krobo
and Shai, such a company is called huza . It was organized for the purpose of col-
lective bargaining for land. After its purchase, the land was divided into privately
owned longitudinal strips, zugba or zugbakpo , and shared proportionately among
the company members according to each one's financial contribution towards the
group land purchase. Commonly a homestead is constructed at the base of each of
the parallel longitudinal or linear zugba . From the base, farming proceeds through
the traditional system of land rotation, in the same general direction along the
zugba . Subsequently, other migrant farmers, including those from Akuapem,
apparently adopted the novel “company” concept.
A zugba is regarded as the original buyer's private estate, which he may dis-
pose of howsoever. However, if the buyer dies intestate, i.e. without specifying
the manner of treating the zugba , in accordance with the patrilineal custom of
Krobo people, the eldest son of the deceased inherits it. It may also be shared
among the sons of the deceased, with the proviso that it remains ancestral family
property as in the matrilineal system of some Akuapem and other Akan people.
As ancestral family property, an inherited zugba may not be alienated, except
under dire circumstances. In effect, the inheritors are only trustees. They may, as
in the case of Akuapem people, grant out inherited land to non-family members,
especially in tenancy forms.
In Bongnayili-Dugu-Song, as in the whole of the Dagbon traditional area to
which Bongnayili-Dugu-Song belongs, land is generally held in custody for the
local people by chiefs and heads of clans and families under the overlordship of
the Ya-Na, the supreme ruler of Dagbon. Among the chiefs under the Ya-Na are
paramount ones including the Voggu, the principal custodian in Bongnayili-
Dugu-Song. In each of the various communities, a tindana , tindaanama ,or

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