Revisiting land reform: land rights, access, and soil fertility management on the Adja Plateau in Benin

Yemadje, Rolland H.; Crane, Todd A.; Mongbo, Roch; Saïdou, Aliou; Azontonde, Hessou Anastase; Kossou, D.K.; Kuyper, Thomas W.

doi:10.1080/14735903.2014.909645

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…First, the program may have increased farmers' investment in existing plots, increasing productivity and, hence, reducing the need to clear further land. This is supported by the results of two other studies that found the program led to increased investment (14,27). We also find evidence consistent with this in our analysis of community surveys, which are reported in Table 2.…”

Section: What Explains the Reduction In Tree Cover Loss?supporting

confidence: 91%

Formalizing land rights can reduce forest loss: Experimental evidence from Benin

2020

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Many countries are formalizing customary land rights systems with the aim of improving agricultural productivity and facilitating community forest management. This paper evaluates the impact on tree cover loss of the first randomized control trial of such a program. Around 70,000 landholdings were demarcated and registered in randomly chosen villages in Benin, a country with a high rate of deforestation driven by demand for agricultural land. We estimate that the program reduced the area of forest loss in treated villages, with no evidence of anticipatory deforestation or negative spillovers to other areas. Surveys indicate that possible mechanisms include an increase in tenure security and an improvement in the effectiveness of community forest management. Overall, our results suggest that formalizing customary land rights in rural areas can be an effective way to reduce forest loss while improving agricultural investments.

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Section: What Explains the Reduction In Tree Cover Loss?supporting

confidence: 91%

Formalizing land rights can reduce forest loss: Experimental evidence from Benin

2020

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“…Table 2 in the introduction to this special issue (Struik et al 2014) summarizes the major constraints diagnosed and the main causal relationships underlying the identified constraints. In some studies, the constraints were poor institutions to properly manage resources; examples include the lack of a properly functioning oil-palm seed and seedling distribution system (Akpo et al 2014) and the lack of proper land tenure arrangements (Yemadje et al 2014). In other cases, constraints consisted of a lack of incentives, for example in the commercial production systems for small ruminants (Amankwah et al 2014), to produce high-quality oil (Osei-Amponsah et al 2014) or cocoa beans (Quarmine et al 2014) or to invest in managing a value chain (Sidibé et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Unravelling institutional determinants affecting change in agriculture in West Africa

Struik

Klerkx

Hounkonnou³

2014

International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability

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This paper compares lessons learned from nine studies that explored institutional determinants of innovation towards sustainable intensification of West African agriculture. The studies investigated issues relating to crop, animal, and resources management in Benin, Ghana, and Mali. The constraints addressed were agronomic or economic (e.g. low production, yield, quality, prices) and institutional (e.g. poor access to resources and constraining regulations) and were analysed using an array of research approaches. The studies showed that political ambitions to foster institutional change were often high (restoring the Beninese cotton sector and protecting Ghanaian farmers against fluctuating cocoa prices) and that the institutional change achieved was often remarkable. However, flexibility of institutions, co-evolution of technical and institutional change, and increased transparency are needed to make institutional change successful. The programme Convergence of SciencesStrengthening Agricultural Innovation Systems encouraged interventions where needed and enabled researchers and stakeholders to acquire the change capacities required to identify the need and potential for change and to make change happen. More research is needed to design pathways towards sustainable intensification based on social and technological innovation. Policy-makers should create space for institutional experimentation and empower smallholder farmers in West Africa to create resilient, local food systems to feed burgeoning urban populations.

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“…However, institutions, especially rules and their enforcement, have considerable influence on effective cooperation, and institutional arrangements cannot be made without a combination of both the formal and the sociocultural capital in which the communities are embedded (Cleaver 2002). The question now is how to achieve a proper bricolage (integration of traditional and formal institutional arrangements) to stimulate cooperation (Yemadje et al 2014).…”

Section: The Significance Of Rules and Sanctioningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of cooperative choice: canal maintenance in smallholder irrigated rice production in Benin

Totin

Leeuwis

Mierlo

et al. 2014

International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability

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Rice production in inland valleys in Southern Benin was initiated by the public sector. The subsequent devolution of responsibility for maintaining the collective irrigation infrastructure to farmers created an opportunity to study the factors that affect cooperation in canal maintenance. We used a social dilemma perspective to compare three rice production areas that differed in the extent of cooperation, based on focus group interviews, surveys, and archival research. The findings draw attention to the nature of the resource, the characteristics of the user group, and farmer-based institutional arrangements as explanatory variables. Specifically these include (1) the balance between water demand and availability, (2) the existence of inequities and privileged positions within the group, and (3) the strength of group organization and the ability to sanction uncooperative behaviour. The existence of alternative sources of livelihood also influenced cooperation. Contrary to our expectations, the largest and most diverse group of producers appeared best organized and equipped to engage in cooperation. Size and diversity might actually allow (1) the emergence of institutional arrangements that can overcome social dilemma situations and demotivation emanating from customary privileges and exemptions and (2) better use of Africa's irrigation potential.

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Revisiting land reform: land rights, access, and soil fertility management on the Adja Plateau in Benin

Cited by 10 publications

References 28 publications

Formalizing land rights can reduce forest loss: Experimental evidence from Benin

Formalizing land rights can reduce forest loss: Experimental evidence from Benin

Unravelling institutional determinants affecting change in agriculture in West Africa

Drivers of cooperative choice: canal maintenance in smallholder irrigated rice production in Benin

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