Analysis of the impact of land tenure security on agricultural productivity in Burkina Faso

Abstract

This article analyses the causal link between secured land property rights and farm productivity through investment channels using data from the 2011/2012 agricultural season provided by the ministry in charge of agriculture. The productivity is estimated from a stochastic production frontier, and an appropriate interval regression model is used to deal with endogeneity. We found that cereal producers have an average level of technical efficiency (TE) of approximately 0.37 units. This productivity can be improved by 0.17 units if the plots are secure. The results also revealed that multicropping, access to credit and water and soil conservation techniques are factors that have positive effects on producers' TE. However, the producers' TE is negatively affected by the quality of the seed.