Changes In Land Tenure Research Articles

Model Perencanaan Tata Ruang Wilayah menggunakan Spatial Temporal Autocorrelation (Studi Kasus: Kabupaten Jayawijaya)

Jayawijaya Regency faces various challenges in the use of land tenure status in urban planning areas (RTRW). This study focuses on the RTRW Spatial Pattern Plan in Wamena Urban on changes in land tenure with a spatial temporal autocorrelation (STA) approach. The results showed that there were two spatial patterns formed in the Wamena Urban Area, namely cluster patterns and dispersed patterns. Cluster patterns are formed in airports, urban areas, flat woodland agriculture, local protection/LIPI plantations, and river boundaries. Dispersed patterns are formed in community plantations and scrubs, rural settlements, wetland agriculture, slope dryland agriculture, and mining. The results of the analysis showed that cluster patterns in the Airport, Urban, Flat Dryland Agriculture, Local Protection/LIPI Plantations, and River Border areas showed significant changes in land tenure status. Climate change, infrastructure development, and population growth are some of the factors causing these changes. Meanwhile, dispersed patterns in community plantations/shrubs, rural settlements, wetland agriculture, slope dryland agriculture, and mining showed no significant change in land tenure status. This is due to factors such as conflicts over customary rights to land ownership. This study provides an overview of spatial patterns of changes in land tenure status in the Wamena Urban Area. The results of this research can be used as a basis for the formulation of land management policies and strategies in the region.

Changes in productive, socio-economic, and environmental performance of field crop farming in the Argentine Pampas, 2007–2018

This study fills important gaps in research by analyzing the evolution over time of productive, environmental, and socio-economic aspects of agricultural production in the Argentine Pampas, utilizing farm-level data. A longitudinal study was conducted to examine the changes that occurred in farming systems during the period 2007–2018. The study evaluated the changes in 30 farms, examining modifications in the structure and management of each farm, as well as in productive, economic, and environmental performance. Canonical correlation analysis was used to relate the changes that occurred in performance to farms' characteristics at the beginning of the study period. The results indicated that, among the farms that stayed in business, there were no significant changes in land tenure and the amount of labor employed. There was a significant increase in the average age of farmers by 7 years, along with a decrease in the percentage of farmers expecting growth, dropping from 70% to 42% over the period. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that smaller farms, with a higher number of workers at the beginning of the period, were more likely to expand their farming area during the analysis period. The findings also indicate a substantial turnover of producers, with leaving farms being succeeded by larger-scale operations. The yields of the main crops and the direct production costs increased by 16% and 48% respectively, during the period. The environmental indicators for the main crops present a mixed picture: soil organic carbon input increased by 12%, while environmental impact quotient decreased on average, by 6% for cereals but increased by 40% for soybeans, and nutrient imbalances rose. The significance of this study resides in its application of a comprehensive approach to analyze the transformation of farming systems over time.

Agricultural socialized services and Chinese food security: examining the threshold effect of land tenure change

Revolutionary agricultural structural reforms in the supply chain and cutting-edge institutional mechanisms are pivotal in catalyzing a quantum leap in food production. China’s focus on achieving self-sufficiency in grain production for domestic security necessitates structural reforms in the agricultural supply chain and innovative institutional mechanisms. The emergence of socialized agricultural institutions plays a pivotal role in providing essential services to smallholder farmers. However, a dearth of studies evaluating the efficacy of these services in enhancing grain production exists. This study aims to fill this gap by analyzing provincial panel data from China spanning 2011 to 2020 to evaluate the impact of Agricultural Socialized Services (ASS) development levels on grain production. Employing panel and panel threshold models for empirical analysis, the research investigates how this impact varies between major grain-producing regions and non-major grain-producing regions. Findings indicate a significant positive effect of ASS on grain production, with a correlation coefficient of 1.3555. While its impact is less pronounced in grain-producing regions, it proves beneficial in non-grain regions. Moreover, the transfer of farmland use rights amplifies ASS’s influence on grain production, with a threshold value of 33.18%. The study concludes by outlining policy implications from various perspectives, providing practical recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders in the agricultural sector.

Changing land and labour relations on cocoa farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and change

Ever since the late 1880s when cocoa began to be grown commercially in Ghana, land and labour has been mobilized to expand the area under cocoa trees and cultivate the crop. The first cocoa farmers ingeniously used and adapted existing social norms for land acquisition and recruitment of labour from both the extended family and from migrants. The resulting development of cocoa was a remarkable story of African innovation and enterprise that made the then Gold Coast one of the most prosperous parts of Africa by the mid-twentieth century. We look at how land and labour has been mobilized for cocoa in Sefwi, western Ghana, from the start of cocoa growing in the region in the 1940s through to 2019. We ask what current norms are, how they have evolved, and why changes to them have been made. Changes in land and labour relations in the area have not followed the linear evolutionary theory of land tenure change neither have they remained as unique immutable customary structures. We note a flexible, reversible and highly pragmatic logic in tandem with the ruling exigencies that account for patterns of change over time.

Does land tenure change accelerate deforestation? A matching-based four-country comparison

The scale and pace of land tenure change for agricultural development, often known as ‘land grabbing’ or ‘global land rush,’ are historically unprecedented. Control over millions of hectares of land has shifted over the past decade for the production of food, fiber, and biofuel. However, the rapidly growing body of research on land tenure change provides few rigorous assessments of deforestation across multiple countries with distinct biophyisical and socioeconomic characteristics. In this paper, based on spatial boundaries of land transactions (LTs) in Cambodia, Ethiopia, Liberia, and Peru, we investigate their association with deforestation using a pixel-based matching approach. Our findings suggest that the context, size, and distribution of LTs and the associated deforestation patterns vary substantially across the four countries. Land tenure change significantly accelerates deforestation in Cambodia and Liberia, but such acceleration is insignificant in Ethiopia. In Peru, we observe the opposite trend, where areas adjacent to LTs experience higher deforestation than areas within. Our analysis reveals how patterns and outcomes of LTs are linked to country characteristics and contexts, and suggests that sweeping generalizations about positive or negative consequences of LTs on deforestation and possibly other socioenvironmental outcomes need to attend more closely to specific patterns and drivers of LTs.

Contribution of Land Tenure Changes in Empowering Maasai Women Pastoralists in Resources Management: A Case Study of Elangatwuas Ward, Kajiado County, Kenya

This research explores the contribution of land tenure changes in empowering Maasai women pastoralists in resource management. The study focuses on understanding the benefits and challenges of land subdivision for Maasai women, examining changes in decision-making processes at the household and community levels, exploring shifts in gender roles and resource access, and assessing the overall empowerment of Maasai women through land tenure changes. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining qualitative data collection methods such as interviews and focus group discussions with quantitative surveys. The study findings reveal significant positive impacts of the land subdivision on Maasai women's empowerment. The benefits identified include reduced cases of husbands being polygamous, increased chances of women's involvement in business and employment, equal chances for male and female children to inherit and own family land, increased ability to undertake projects on the land, and the freedom for women to own their own livestock. These changes have provided women with increased decision-making power within households and communities, allowing them to participate in determining land use, livestock management, education for children, and building family houses. Despite the progress, challenges remain, including conflicts over land inheritance, limited knowledge of legal rights among illiterate girls, and smaller grazing areas for livestock. However, the research concludes that overall, land tenure changes have empowered Maasai women by enabling them to engage in business, acquire education, own livestock, and own land. The results highlight the importance of recognizing and strengthening women's rights in land and resource management to achieve gender equity and sustainable development in pastoralist communities. This research contributes to the understanding of the transformative potential of land tenure changes in empowering Maasai women pastoralists and informs strategies for promoting gender equity and sustainable resource management in similar contexts.

The Heterogeneity of Small, Mid-Scale, and Large-Scale Curly Red Chili Farming In Megamendung, Indonesia

The change in land tenure and the shrinking size of agricultural land in Indonesia are recurring discussion topics. For farming to be sustainable, higher profit must be gained, particularly as a backup in the increasing number of small farms. This study aims to examine the farming practices of curly red chili at three farming scale levels: large-scale, mid-scale, and small farms. The observations, surveys, and interviews were conducted to obtain curly red chili production data during the wet season (December 2021 - March 2022) in Megamendung Sub-district. The farm parameters were presented descriptively; conversely, the farm's efficiency was measured using the R/C ratio of explicit cost and implicit costs. As many as 30 farmers are chosen using a purposive sampling technique. The study revealed that the profits gained by farmers depend on the farms scale with the largest share of large-scale farms, followed by mid-scale and small farms, whose R/C ratios on explicit cost were 9.50, 9.03, and 7.50, respectively. Mid-scale farms benefit from the high selling prices of the selected marketing channels; on the other hand, large-scale farms benefit from efficient production factors. Evidence shows that small farms may utilize both production factors and distribution channels less effectively. It is important for the government to consider implementing land consolidation for fragmented land like this. Land consolidation will assist farmers in the process of managing land and production systems in groups to make efficient use of farming production factors.

Impact of Transfer of Agricultural Land Functions on Socio-Economic and Socio-Ecological Conditions in West Lombok Regency

Land conversion is basically a natural thing to happen, but in reality it becomes a problem, because it occurs on agricultural land that is still productive and its availability is still limited. The negative impact of shifting the function of paddy fields is not only a decrease in agricultural production, but also has an impact on the socio-economic conditions of the community and the environment of the area concerned. In certain cases, the conversion of paddy fields is unavoidable. This study aims to, 1) Identify the types of land transfer in West Lombok Regency, 2). Analyzing the impact of land conversion on socio-economic conditions in West Lombok Regency and 3) Analyzing the impact of land conversion on socio-ecological conditions in West Lombok Regency. The results showed that the conversion of agricultural land is a change in the designation of agricultural land into non-agricultural land use. The potential land that has been widely converted in Labuapi, Gunungsari and Gerung sub-districts during the last five years (2010-2020) is paddy field and dry land which has changed its land use into housing, restaurants, shops and so on. There are different types of land conversion between the sample sub-districts/villages. Labuapi sub-district experienced large-scale agricultural land conversion, while Gunungsari and Gerung sub-districts experienced small agricultural land conversion. In general, the conversion of agricultural land in the sample sub-districts/villages has a negative impact on socio-economic aspects such as changes in land tenure, employment opportunities, changes in work patterns.

“It is the Wild West out here”

This research builds on the emerging body of literature investigating the implications of changing land tenure relations in the Prairie Provinces, where over 70% of Canada’s farmland is located. Through an analysis of survey data collected in 2019 from 400 grain farmers, we address the following research questions: How are farmers experiencing changing patterns of land tenure and control at the local level? What challenges and opportunities do farmers face in these changing farmland markets? And, how has the entry of new actors (farmland investors) changed relationships between landlords and tenants? Our findings suggest that those farmers who are witnessing the financialization of farmland in their regions view this phenomenon with alarm. Furthermore, we show that those who rent from corporate investors are more often subject to landlord influence over production practices and pay higher rental rates than those who rent from other landlord types. Concern about farmland concentration is widespread among Prairie farmers, with a variety of negative effects identified, including increased competition over land and the decline of local communities. We recommend that future research probe how different investor types (individual vs. corporate and/or institutional) engage in land markets, examine the gender dimensions of landlord-tenant relations, and engage in analyses that challenge the current iteration of the private property regime.

Changing land tenure regimes and women’s access to secure land for cocoa cultivation in rural Ghana

The global literature on the ownership of, access to and control over land for agricultural activities, specifically for cocoa production, reports on gender discrimination, which affects the productivity and wellbeing of women farmers. Yet, the relationship between changing tenure dynamics and women's access to land is inconclusive and blurred in many sub-Saharan African countries, particularly, Ghana. However, understanding this relationship is important in promoting productivity and improving wellbeing, especially of women across Africa. The paper thus examines the determinants and implications of the changing land tenure regime on women cocoa farmers. Using Dormaa Central Municipality of the Bono Region of Ghana as a case study, household surveys and agency interviews were conducted. From the study, land tenure arrangements in the study communities have transformed from the ownership by the extended family to more individualised ownership through inheritance, gift, or purchase. Even though sharecropping presents a major opportunity for women to improve their land needs, the results indicate gender discrimination under the sharecropping arrangements as landowners prefer men to women. This is because the latter do not have the required resources to undertake commercially beneficial farming. It is also argued that though the emerging land commodification presents an opportunity for women to improve land access for cocoa farming, women are still disadvantaged as they lack the wherewithal to acquire land through purchase. In addition, the existing local customs and practices under the matrilineal system of inheritance are fluid and gendered; thus, hindering women's access to land for cocoa farming. The study calls for continuous engagement and advocacy on land tenure to improve channels of equitable land access for women and subsequently improve their economic fortunes in Ghana’s cocoa sector.

Customary land disputes and the commoditisation of rural land in Africa: a case study from eastern Uganda

ABSTRACT This paper considers a customary land dispute within the context of rising land commoditisation in the Teso region of eastern Uganda. I analyse a statutory court-led mediation hearing of the land dispute, which I observed in October of 2015 in Teso. My analysis of the hearing focuses on how key aspects of the dispute should be understood within the broader context of customary land commoditisation and agrarian change in Teso, exemplifying what Chimhowu calls the ‘“new” customary tenure’ in Africa. In support of an historical approach to understanding land tenure change, I underline the spatial and temporal dynamics of land commoditisation in the region. While the commoditisation of customary land is a trend widely observed across rural Africa, it is less clear how land dispute resolution policies will adapt to this structural shift in customary land tenure.

The Place of Urban Food Forests in Cities of the 21st Century

The history of urban food forests (UFFs) dates back to ancient times, when civilizations incorporated edible species into wild forests to create an ecosystem as natural as and self-sufficient as possible. Since the second half of the 20th century, the practices of integrating edible plants into ornamental landscapes have spread throughout the world. Currently, UFFs must face a number of challenges similar to those encountered by urban forests: land tenure, governance, technical capacities, and pollution and global change issues, and must be addressed in order to identify the most suitable combination of productive, environmental, and socio-economic functions of UFF. The events on a global scale that occurred in the first decades of the 21st century are forcing those who live and work in urban environments to react quickly to address the upcoming challenges.

Lands Without Water: The Conflict Between Ejidatarios and Haciendas Over Water, Naucalpan, Mexico, 1920-1940

Since 1917, a great change in land tenure took place in this country, through the endowment and restitution demanded by the towns of Mexico. In the case of the municipality of Naucalpan, in the State of Mexico, the requests for endowments and restitution of land began in 1917. It was during the 1920s when the land began to be distributed to the peasants, but the water did not reach the ejidal lands. The large haciendas (estates) were able to conserve the use of water resources by having legal license to do so. This article exposes the struggle of the peasants of Naucalpan to obtain irrigation water from the Hondo River, the main source of water in this area. The matter was partially resolved in the 1930s thanks to the Regulation of this river, although its implementation had many complications by the fraccionistas (persons who buy sections of the estates) of the old haciendas. Throughout the 1930s, the distribution of water was carried out, after almost ten years of a tense situation between the ejidatarios (ejido members) and the large properties. Key words: water, agrarian distribution, peasants, State of Mexico, Ejido (communal land)

Implementation of agrarian reform in North Sumatra, Indonesia: The productiveness of institutional fragmentation

Over the past few years, the Government of Indonesia has set out to implement an ambitious goal of formally changing land tenure arrangements on over 20 million hectares of land across the country. In this paper, I analyze the politics surrounding the policy framework’s implementation at the provincial level in North Sumatra. Given variegated meanings of agrarian reform held by different civil society actors as well as the abstract national-level policy framework allowing for multiple types of tenure to be claimed, I show how “ineffective” policy implementation cannot be merely explained by characterizing state institutions as dysfunctional, in part due to how “accurate” claims cannot be ascertained in a self-evident manner. Rather, the invocation and resignification of longstanding commonly accepted communitarian vocabularies provide opportunities for different civil society actors to assert and gain recognition for specific visions of (re)territorializing land and (re)subjectivizing rural populations to challenge longstanding political-economic structures that continue to privilege plantation, mining, and logging interests. As such, contemporary fragmentation of the Indonesian land bureaucracy should not be seen in a negative light. Instead, bureaucratic interactions at the provincial level are decisive modes of articulating and formalizing legitimate visions of land use and rural development as well as defining appropriate economic, environmental, and cultural subjectivities in a non-deterministic manner.

Joint Ventures and Land Rentals in Tobacco: Limitations of Radical Land Reforms in a Neoliberal Economic Environment – the Case of Zvimba, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s fast-track land reform programme has led to the adoption of new patterns of land use by its beneficiaries. Tobacco farming is a case in point. By virtue of the crop’s export viability and driven by changes in land tenure brought about by the reform, investors and resettled farmers are entering into a new generation of land leases and joint-venture agreements. To varying degrees, these agreements are attempts by resettled farmers to mobilise the working capital they need for farming and attempts by investors – mostly white former farmers who lost land to the land reform programme – to regain access to land in order to apply their capital and know-how to farming. The very emergence of these arrangements suggests that Zimbabwe’s land reform programme, although radical, was not backed up by a corresponding financial strategy. The growing control of investors over land through these arrangements is also suggestive of a land reform reversal. This article draws on evidence of joint ventures in tobacco farming in the Zvimba district of Mashonaland West to argue that what are presented on the ground and in the literature as joint ventures are best characterised instead as land rental arrangements with asymmetrical power relations that favour investors. Despite the existence of national policy frameworks aimed at attracting investment in agriculture, there is no legal basis for the regulation of these joint ventures. Through examining the limitations of land reform, this article argues that the lease agreements, widely presented as joint ventures, constitute a certain reversal of the transformation attempted by the land reform programme.

"They Did Not Have to Burn My Sister Alive": Causes and Distribution by State of Dowry Murders in India

Dowry, the money, goods, property, or gifts given by the bride’s family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage, is a common custom in South Asia. Although it is illegal to demand—or offer—a dowry in India, it is a nearly universal custom in many parts of the country. If, after marriage, a husband’s family feels that the wife’s dowry was insufficient, they may harass or inflict other forms of domestic violence on her to put pressure on her family to provide an additional dowry. At its most extreme, this violence may lead to the murder of the wife. An increase in dowry mur-ders, commonly by immolation, in the 1980s and 1990s was reflected in important studies of the phenomenon and changes to the law to prevent the crime. Although the number of dowry murders has grown in succeeding decades, there have been few recent studies; rarer still is research from an all-India perspective. In this paper, I examine trends in and causes of murder for dowry and the related crimes of domestic violence. Prominent theories are tested for their ability to explain the incidence of murder for dowry. Dowry murders are concentrated in north India. Because the marriage alliance systems of the north differ from those of the south, the impact of Indian kinship systems is explored. The multi-generation or ‘joint’ family—nearly universal in India—has been found by Umar to be a common factor in many cases of dowry murder he studied. By contrast, Oldenburg has argued that changes in land tenure during Brit-ish rule created individual property rights for men, leading to a preference for sons and the emergence of demands for dowry and, ultimately, dowry murder. Most case studies of dowry murder have been drawn from India’s larger cities; the impact of urbanisation is also studied. Economists have suggested structural factors, such as population growth, the economic value of women’s work, poverty, income inequality, and conspicuous consumption as possible causes driving domestic violence and murder for dowry. The institutional capacity of an Indian state to provide education, health, and enforcement of laws such as those prohibiting dowry is also examined. This study identifies five principal causes which explain nearly 80% of the variation in dowry murders at the level of individual Indian states: its prevailing kinship system, the prevalence of the joint family, the extent of women’s workforce participation, income inequality, and the institutional performance of a state.

Factors influencing migration and settlement of pastoralists in Nairobi City, Kenya

Pastoralism is globally recognized as the backbone of the economy in the vast arid and semi-arid rangelands. Despite its enormous economic contribution, the system is facing a myriad of challenges, among them, land use and land tenure changes, resulting in diminished grazing land. Accompanying such changes is the conversion of traditional grazing lands into other uses such as settlements, with urbanization being one of the key drivers of pastoral system dynamics. Understanding such dynamics in the face of compounding factors such as frequent droughts linked to climate change is key in guiding policy formulation and interventions aimed at achieving a sustainable pastoral production system. This study investigated factors determining migration and settlement of pastoralists in Nairobi City of Kenya. Data was collected through a snowball sampling approach using semi-structured household questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs) in five Sub-counties of Nairobi City County. A total of 144 household interviews, 6 FGDs and 16 KIIs were conducted to elucidate drivers of urban pastoralism, opportunities and challenges encountered by pastoralists in the city. A binary logistic regression model was used to analyse the determinants of their migration. Results show that search for pasture and water resources, and alternative markets especially during droughts, are the main reasons for pastoralists’ migration to the city. In addition, educated herders were found to be more likely to migrate to the city as they pursue wage employment. Whereas these findings revealed that migration to the city exposes pastoralists to diverse livelihood opportunities, they are equally faced by a number of challenges - mainly road accidents involving livestock, frequent land displacements to pave way for development of real estates, and livestock poisoning from sewage and garbage wastes. There is a need for policy and regulatory interventions to recognize pastoralism alongside other forms of urban farming and addressing challenges facing sustainable pastoral production.

Protest, middlemen and everyday meanings of place: reconceptualising the scramble for East Africa’s drylands

ABSTRACT Kenya's drylands have experienced a recent rise in large-scale land acquisitions, including energy extraction and infrastructure projects. The “scramble” for land and resources involves a range of actors, including pastoralists, many of whom have attempted to secure rights over land in anticipation of new opportunities associated with future investments. Such “economies of anticipation” among communities are transforming investor and state visions. This article adds to discussions of economies of anticipation; it argues that different types of middlemen are central to rural communities' struggles to gain a stake in energy and infrastructure investments, and the precarity they face due to land tenure change. The article argues for the importance of incorporating a temporal dimension into discussions of economies of anticipation and community-middlemen interactions. It charts how one pastoralist community's past experiences of negotiating their inclusion in the Lake Turkana Wind Power investment and other land deals shaped subsequent desires to demarcate land in anticipation of future investments. Alleged nepotism and inequitable inclusion of communities by investment gatekeepers sparked community claims of rightful inclusion based around contested meanings of land and an everyday sense of place. Social stratifications and narratives of belonging that emerged from protests for inclusion determined citizens' subsequent attempts to gain a stake in future investment projects.

Changing Ground: Handling Tensions between Production Ethics and Environmental Ethics of Agricultural Soils

Soils are an essential element in sustainable food systems and vital for ecosystem services. Soils are degrading, because of urbanization, poor soil management, depletion and mining, over-use of inputs and impacts of climate change. Poor soil management resulted from short-term yield maximization caused by changes in land tenure, property rights and land use. We argue for soil protection based on the concept of soil telos defined as the combined purposefulness in agricultural production and terrestrial ecosystem optimization. It includes the right of mankind to use soils, provided norms and values are respected based on the soil’s usefulness, its natural purposefulness and its right to be protected (including its physical, chemical and biological cycles). Finding a sustainable balance between these values and rights on the one hand and the need to use living soils for agricultural production on the other hand requires a new approach to soil management based on widely accepted norm- and value-driven decisions on unavoidable trade-offs. Reconciling man-made telos and natural telos, requires (i) empowering the soil to achieve its man-made telos (e.g., by restoring degraded soils); (ii) empowering the soil to achieve its natural telos (e.g., by restoring water courses); (iii) raising awareness about the need to reconcile these two teloi (e.g., by acknowledging rights of soils); and (iv) monitoring tools to assess successful reconciliation (e.g., by evaluating soil health).

‘We are the ones who know the intimacies of the soil’: Grazier claims to belonging and changing land relations in Cape York Peninsula, Queensland

AbstractAcross Cape York Peninsula, the cattle grazing industry has declined in recent decades due to falling cattle prices, shorter wet seasons and land tenure changes. Remaining graziers perceive their status in the region as increasingly marginal and explain this precarity with the ‘locking up’ of Cape York land regimes and environments by National Parks and Aboriginal interests. Based on 14 months of ethnographic research in south‐east Cape York conducted in 2018–2019, in this article I describe and analyse how graziers construct their claims to belonging in the region in response to land tenure changes. Drawing on recent scholarship on non‐Indigenous forms of belonging in settler states and using the case study of one particular grazing family, I discuss how graziers position themselves as those who ‘know the intimacies of the soil’, as one grazier stated, due to multigenerational work on the land. Their claim to belonging tends to ignore prior Aboriginal occupation and instead emphasises their long‐term relationships with local Aboriginal families, while the third main stakeholder in the region, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, is perceived as a kind of dispossessor representing non‐local ‘Green’ ideologies and interests.