Abstract
Economic theory notes tenure security is a critical factor in agricultural investment and productivity. Therefore, several African countries’ development initiatives enabled land titling to enhance tenure security. This paper examines the effect of land certification on tenure security, land investment, crop productivity and land dispute in Gozamin District, Ethiopia. In addition, the impact of land certification on farm households’ perceptions and confidence in land tenure and land use rights is investigated. Face-to-face interviews with 343 randomly selected farm households, group discussions and expert panels are the sources of primary data. Quantitative data are analyzed using various statistical tools and complemented by qualitative data. According to the results, most farm households (56%) feel that their land use rights are secure after the certification process. Only 17% fear that the government at any time could take their land use rights. The majority of farm households (71.7%) identified a reduction of disputes after certification and land management practices improved from 70.3% before certification to 90.1% after certification. As key factors for the increase of terracing and the application of manure, the study determined total farm size, the average distance from farm to homestead, perception of degradation, access to credit, training to land resource management, fear about land take-over by the government and total livestock holdings. Crop productivity improved significantly after land certification. The results should encourage policy makers to minimize the sources of insecurity, such as frustrations of future land redistribution and land taking without proper land compensation. Land certification is the right tool for creating tenure security, enhancing farmers’ confidence in their land rights and—supported by a proper land use planning system—improving land-related investments and crop productivity.
Highlights
As land is a vital resource in Africa, land reform is a key development effort [1,2]
The existence of second level land certification documents for farm households;; It was the first pilot site for the second land certification process; There were a variety of agro-climatic zones, leading to different types of crop farming practices; Local knowledge of authors for the study site
These results were supported by group discussions, which argued that the landholding certificate is being used as proof of their landholding rights and increased land tenure security
Summary
As land is a vital resource in Africa, land reform is a key development effort [1,2]. Studies have shown that land certification improves the sense of tenure security and land rights, reduces land disputes and enhances farmers’ investment in land and agricultural productivity [10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23]. Land tenure security and land tenure rights are identified as key determinants of land use and investments in land improvement. They provide incentives to conserve land quality, to reinforce private incentives for long-term investment in soil conservation and to intensify agriculture [21,22]
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