Impact of land tenure security through customary law on agricultural productivity in Burkina Faso: Propensity score matching approaches

Abstract

Land tenure security plays an important role in agricultural production systems. The objective of this paper is to empirically assess the impact of land tenure security through customary law on agricultural productivity in Burkina Faso. We use panel data from 15,627 agricultural households over the period 2019–2021. Four propensity score matching methods are used: the nearest neighbor method, the stratification method, the radius method and the kernel method. The instrumental variables technique was used to control for endogeneity. Overall, the results indicate that household land security improves agricultural productivity. The minimum gain in agricultural productivity is estimated to be USD 86.4 per agricultural asset per season for households with customary land tenure. In terms of economic policy implications, the results call on the authorities in charge of conducting agricultural policies to promote comprehensive land policies by adapting them to local contexts through the recognition of customary institutions for rural land management.