Several studies have indicated a strong link between poverty and insecure land tenure. In Sierra Leone
like other former British colonies, two separate land tenure systems exist: an imposed British tenure in the western
area, and a customary system in the rest of the country. Whilst the former allows freehold tenure, the latter does not.
Seventy-five percent of its population are rural, and invariably depends on agriculture for livelihood sustainability.
Statistics also show that women who form the bulk of this population are involved in food production. One of the
reasons identified why the country is unable to feed its population is the existence of the customary system. In this
work, we discussed the two land tenure systems in the country, and analyzed the shortcomings of the customary
tenure in detail. Data were mainly desktop literature. We looked at similar cases elsewhere and drew our
conclusions. . We discovered that the customary system is not only discriminating against women, and other citizens
(from other parts of the country), but discourages investment in agriculture and other land uses in rural areas. It is
therefore a threat to food security and rural development in general. It also provokes tension between citizens from
the western area, and those from the rest of the country. If the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, VISION 2025 and
the Millennium Development Goals are to be realized, it is important that authorities step up and reform this
customary system, and encourage more access to land, say freehold tenure