Effect of land tenure security on agricultural productivity among small scale farmers in Kenya: a conditional mixed processes analysis

Abstract

Security of land tenure among rural households is an integral part in achieving high agricultural productivity. However, there is limited information on the nexus between land tenure security, credit access and agricultural productivity. This study investigates the effects of land tenure security on maize productivity through credit access. Using pre-tested semi-structured questionnaires, cross-sectional primary data were collected from randomly selected 366 small-scale maize farmers in Trans-Mara East and Trans-Mara West sub counties of Narok County, Kenya. Descriptive statistics and conditional mixed process (CMP) model were used to analyse the data. Results show that about 46.99% of the interviewed households had land title deeds. Household heads with land title deeds were more educated, had larger land and farm sizes, had more productive parcels of land and obtained higher gross margins as compared to those without land title deeds. Moreover, the majority of household heads with secure land tenure were married, had community leadership position and acquired land through purchase. The CMP results indicate that, land tenure security was significantly influenced by sex, marital status, education level of the household head as well as presence of land disputes, soil fertility, and purchase of land. The study confirmed the relationship between land tenure security, credit access and maize productivity. Land tenure security significantly and positively influenced credit access, while farmers with access to credit increased maize productivity by 2001.902 kg/ha. The findings call for efforts by stakeholders to enact policies that could promote cost-friendly access to secure land tenure through the acquisition of land title deeds. Additionally, there is need for the government to promote the development and strengthening of both land and credit markets that would stimulate agricultural productivity.