Impact of land administration programs on agricultural productivity and rural development: existing evidence, challenges and new approaches

Abstract

Investment in land administration projects is often considered key for agricultural productivity and rural development in developing countries. But the evidence on the effect of such interventions is remarkably mixed. This article reviews the literature and discusses a number of challenges related to the analysis of the impacts of land administration programs, focusing on developing countries where the starting position is one of land administration systems based on the Napoleonic code, with existing individual rights that may be imperfect and insecure. We examine a set of conceptual and methodological challenges including: 1. a conceptual challenge related to the need to unbundle property rights and to establish the plausible causal chain for land administration interventions; 2. the existence of other binding constraints on productivity, implying the need to consider heterogeneities in policy impacts and the complementarity between property rights and other productive interventions; 3. the need to account for spillover effects of land interventions on non-targeted households; and 4. methodological challenges related to the causal identification of the impacts of such interventions.

Mapping properties to monitor forests: Landholder response to a large environmental registration program in the Brazilian Amazon

“…Programs to reform land rights have received much scholarly attention, but few studies have evaluated the outcomes of programs to map land claims in environmental registries, partly because these systems are relatively new and evolving (Gignoux et al, 2013; but see Rajão et al, 2012;Azevedo et al, 2014). Environmental registries are intended to reduce deforestation by facilitating monitoring and enforcement of environmental policies.…”

Effects of land tenure rights formalization on household investments – The case of PRODEP in Nicaragua

“…The theoretical framework is based on Gignoux et al (2013), framed on the following research questions:…”

“…Through the systematic land regularization of a land rights, together with a geospatial database that links cadastral and registry information (SIICAR), PRODEP aims to transfer de facto State property to legitimate owners (individually or jointly) sustainably. The formalization of property rights leads to an increase in land tenure security, particularly if enforcement mechanisms are in place (Gignoux et al, 2013;de Laiglesia, 2004).…”

Relations between Land Tenure Security and Agricultural Productivity: Exploring the Effect of Land Registration

“…However, whether or not legally recognised land tenure has an impact on agricultural productivity, or even to what extent that form of tenure contributes to more productive agriculture, remains uncertain [29][30][31][32]. Furthermore, research underlines the particularity of growing agrarian economies of developing countries [33,34]. These countries are still working to secure land rights, while pursuing an agriculture transformation phase, transiting from subsistence to market-oriented production.…”

“…International study WE [33] Agricultural Mechanization in Sub-Saharan Africa. Guidelines for preparing a strategy.…”