Land Tenure Reform Research Articles

Land Tenure Reforms in the Area of Leskovac after the Treaty of Berlin (1878–1882)

After the Treaty of Berlin (1878), the area of Leskovac became a part of Serbia. With the fall of the Ottoman empire, the Muslim population also departed leaving their properties. Abandoned lands were taken by the local Christians, who had been in feudal relationships with previous owners. The article follows the politics of the Serbian government regarding the issues of ownership and compensation to Muslim landowners. Furthermore, concrete cases of land possession legal disputes between local Serbs and the former proprietors will be presented. The research compares different political and social structures before and after the Treaty of Berlin. Also, it points out the peasants' new economic situation after the liberation from the feudal system. Analysing the unpublished and published documents, with the help of periodicals and literature, the article provides the new insights and views into the studies of the rural history of Serbia and Southeastern Europe in the 19th century

Land certification, tenure security and off-farm employment: Evidence from China

China’s new round of nationwide land certification program (LCP) provides a good natural experiment to investigate whether land certification can promote rural labor off-farm employment. However, existing research overlooks that the new round of LCP is a re-certification program based on the previous round. This paper proposes that incorporating the ex-ante property rights of households is crucial. Using micro survey data from China, this paper empirically examined the impact of the new round of LCP on off-farm employment for households with different ex-ante property rights through a multi-period DID model. The results indicate that the new round of LCP significantly increased the off-farm employment size for households without old land certificates. However, there was no significant impact on households with old land certificates. The ambitious new round of land tenure reform can only enhance the tenure stability for those households that previously lacked land certificates.

Agricultural Policy Reforms and their Effects on Smallholder Farmers: A Comprehensive Review

Agricultural policy reforms are critical in influencing the economic, social, and environmental conditions of smallholder farmers, who represent a significant portion of the agricultural workforce in developing countries. These reforms, implemented through various strategies such as market liberalization, subsidy adjustments, and land tenure reforms, have far-reaching implications. This review article delves into the multifaceted effects of agricultural policy reforms on smallholder farmers, providing a comprehensive analysis of their historical context, economic impacts, social outcomes, and environmental consequences. By examining the evolution of these policies from the pre-structural adjustment era to the present, we aim to shed light on both the successes and challenges faced by smallholder farmers. The review also highlights case studies from different regions, illustrating the diverse experiences of smallholder farmers under varying policy frameworks. Ultimately, this article offers policy recommendations designed to enhance the resilience and productivity of smallholder farming communities, ensuring sustainable development and food security in the face of global challenges such as climate change and economic volatility.

Our cities, our farm lands: The socioeconomic determinants of urban households participation in urban agricultural production under climatic stressors

In Africa, urban agriculture is critical in addressing food security issues, economic and environmental sustainability in rapidly urbanizing regions such as urban Ghana. However, the factors that influence urban residents' participation in urban agricultural production under climate change adaptation has little space in the extant literature. Recognizing the increasing challenges posed by climate change, this study aims to understand the socio-economic factors influencing urban households' participation in agricultural activities and its implications for climate change adaptation and to draw urban households' socio-economic characteristics and their association with participating in urban agricultural production in the era of climate change effects in urban areas of Ghana. A quantitative approach is employed, involving a sample size of 362 urban households' across diverse neighbourhoods. Statistical analyses, including descriptive statistics—frequencies and percentages, inferential statistics—chi-square test and binary regression models, are employed to quantify the relationships between demographic factors and participation levels. The data suggests correlations between demographic variables, such as household size and income are significant at an alpha 0.05 in determining an urban household's participation in urban agricultural production under climatic stressors. Meanwhile, more urban households' in middle and high-class areas participate in urban agriculture than the lower class. Land acquisition is basically through purchasing which is a challenge in urban agriculture production. The study concluded that urban household size and monthly income are influential factors in urban households' participation in urban agricultural production even though land acquisition plays a factor. The study suggests that policymakers and stakeholders should harness the potential of urban agriculture for sustainable development in the era of climate change. This should be done through rolling out pro-poor urban development policies like pro-poor rights and legislation in urban areas; poor access to financial markets; and land tenure reforms that include flexible land holding and access by the poor.

Those with constant property rights have perseverance: China’s land tenure reform promotes environment-friendly farming practices

Few studies have used large-scale household-level panel data to quantify the impact of land tenure reform on environment-friendly farming practices from a chemical fertiliser reduction perspective. This study attempts to fill this gap by exploring the relationship between land certification and farmers’ chemical fertiliser use. It employs nationally representative panel data from the Chinese Family Database and a propensity score matching and difference-in-difference approach. The results show that land certification significantly reduces the usage of chemical fertilisers, mainly by increasing long-term investment, promoting land renting, and inhibiting off-farm employment. This effect varies greatly between farmers with and without land certification experience before the new round of land certification, although no significant difference exists based on whether farmers have previous land adjustment experience. Furthermore, land certification also helps increase the probability of straw recycling and farm manure use. Accordingly, developing countries can combine land tenure reform with environment-friendly farming practices. Through large-scale land certification reforms, and the continuous enhancement of land tenure security, a solid foundation for a land tenure system for sustainable agricultural development can be established.

Emergent Institutional Issues from New Tenure Reforms and Social-Forestry Initiatives in Indonesia: Notes from The Field

In Indonesia, land tenure reform has been approached as a policy priority by the government to address rural poverty and achieve distributive economic equity. It is instituted around allocation and consolidation of land ownership and access. Tenure reform policy promises over 21.7 million hectares (including 16.8 million hectares of forestland) to be distributed through two modes, i.e., land subject to agrarian reform and social forestry. Specifically for Java, the country’s most populated island, the government has recently allocated 1.1 million hectares of state forests to be entrusted to local communities in a scheme called Kawasan Hutan Dengan Pengelolaan Khusus/KHDPK (Forest Zones for Special Management Purposes). Approximately three-quarters of the KHDPK-reserved forestland is pledged for SF licensing/permits to be completed by 2024. Currently, there is heightened activity to hand over social forestry permits. However, the KHDPK-designated forest is not an unoccupied resource that can simply be transferred/granted to local communities. From only four sites, we discovered that the forests have been guided by contrasting (often conflicting) principles, norms, and values that have shaped the existing tenure arrangements, how it is used and managed, and by whom. Such issues must be navigated prior to introducing the new policy and implementation regime. We conclude that while the policy rationales look perfect as a framework, KHDPK implementation exhibits impediments and potential failures. There is risk of altering it into a mere industry of policy rhetoric, sustaining major flaws from design to execution.

Revisiting the effects of the Ethiopian land tenure reform using satellite data. A focus on agricultural productivity, climate change mitigation and adaptation

This study examines the effects of the land registration and certification programme introduced in 1998 in the Tigray region of Ethiopia on agricultural productivity, climate change mitigation and adaptation. We use satellite-based measures of greenness and implement a difference-in-differences approach, comparing pixels on both sides of the Tigray-Amhara regional border. Results show positive and persistent effects of the programme on agricultural productivity and climate change mitigation. By examining years when adverse climate and weather events occurred, we also find evidence of increased adaptation to climate change. We show that our results are consistent with the reform enhancing farmers’ tenure security and inducing an increase in the adoption of climate smart agricultural practices.

Sustainable land management policy to address land degradation: linking old forest management practices in Senegal with new REDD+ requirements

Prior to the UN Policy framework REDD+, the Government of Senegal (GoS) initiated for many decades, important land management programs to address deforestation and land degradation which affects the country’s food production, ecosystem benefits and livelihoods. A lot of investment and policies have been implemented in various ecologies to improve tree cover and ecosystem services. Reviewing and analyzing the past and present tree recovery actions that are consistent with REDD + policy, this paper explores the way REDD + initiative could play a role in consolidating land management strategies in non-forested area. We use a method based on the wide range of experience of the Senegalese Forest Service, forest development projects and NGOs involved in the management of natural resources and a review of seven selected forestry projects/programs through the country, We found many opportunities for Senegal in implementing REDD + activities (e.g., tree plantation, agroforestry, bush fires management, soil erosion control, sustainable intensification, ecosystem (carbon) and socio-economic (livelihoods) services, etc.). Based on the lessons learned from early land restoration and management projects, the REDD + program could take stock from existing tools and frameworks to advance the agenda and leap in the country’s preparedness as a REDD + country. For that, the national context dictates an expansion of REDD scope 5 (enhancement of forest carbon stock) to AFOLU and afforestation/reforestation and trees outside of forest, which means moving REDD + from LULUCF to AFOLU. The GoS needs to address two (02) key areas: 1) the land ownership issue by pursuing the land tenure reform and integrate regulations about who has access to land, who can benefit from land use services and how the benefits sharing and carbon rights must be organized and; 2) the promotion of more engagement of local communities in forest resource management through community forestry and the sustainable practices of agriculture, forestry and agroforestry.

Does the evidence match the rhetoric? Post-formalization land investments and credit access in Zambia: Cases from informal settlements in Lusaka City region

This study investigates land investments and credit access resulting from a land rights formalization initiative in the Lusaka city region, Zambia, through 302 household interviews, key informant interviews, satellite image analysis and focus group discussions. Results reveal that no more than 27% of respondents in Bauleni and 15% in Madido had mortgaged their houses to formal institutions despite a perceived increase in house values due to the legitimization of property ownership. There was no marked increase in access to formal credit but local informal saving and credit associations, with only 30% having accessed credit. The reported and observed increase in immovable land investments such as house structure expansions, fencing of property and renovations by respondents (78% in Madido and 65% in Bauleni) was attributed to the availability of finances and not land rights formalization per se. The importance of socio-economic and local cultural norms in accruing benefits from property ownership is underplayed by land rights formalization proponents. Therefore, while land tenure reforms remain necessary, they are not sufficient conditions for the urban poor to realize the espoused benefits of formalization - induced capital formation.

Improving farming practice through localized land tenure reform: a study of the “Three Rights Separation Reform” implemented in a Shanghai suburb, China

ABSTRACT Collective land rights reform in developing countries is promoted as a means of optimizing the use of land resources by clarifying property rights and encouraging land transfer. However, such mechanisms remain controversial, particularly as the overall cost – transaction, social, cultural – is often judged to be greater than the benefits obtained. In seeking to address whether this is always the case, this paper reports on a study of the “Three Rights Separation Reform” implemented in a Shanghai suburb, China. The paper argues that localized implementation of land rights reform can provided the context in which farmers feel more secure and have better expectations with respect to land rights, which can stimulate them to modernize and improve their farming practices. We argue that localized implementation, with a combination of top down regulations and bottom up practices, allied to both expert and tacit knowledges, effectively reduces the overall transaction cost and offers flexibility for the local community to find their own solutions under complex socio-economic conditions. We conclude by arguing that additional research and reforms are required to further reduce the transaction cost and enhance farmers’ long-term expectations and experience.

Grassland tenure reform and grassland quality in China

AbstractThis paper investigates the impact of land tenure reform on grassland quality in pastoral areas of China. Using nearly 40 years of remote sensing combined with survey data in the pastoral area of China, we find that the privatization of land use rights without physical (i.e., fences) or legal (i.e., certificates) protection has little impact on improving grassland quality measured by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The enhanced privatization of grassland use rights with physical or legal security significantly increases grassland quality. We show that after the privatization of land use rights with security protection, grassland quality experienced about a 3% increase. Our results suggest that switching to privatized use rights without security protection from previously cooperatively managed land may undermine the positive environmental effects of land tenure reform.

A Checkerboard of Interests: Native American Tribes and the Politics of Land Tenure Reform

A Checkerboard of Interests: Native American Tribes and the Politics of Land Tenure Reform

Market proximity and irrigation infrastructure determine farmland rentals in Sichuan Province, China

A dynamic market for farmland transactions can contribute to an increase in average farm size and to realising economies of scale in farming. China, with more than 200 million small and fragmented farms, has launched a new wave of land tenure reforms that foster land transfers to increase farm size and to improve agricultural efficiency. However, the factors that influence farmland transactions are far from clear. We aim to understand farmland rental determinants in response to a pilot land reform project in China's south-west Sichuan Province. We collected survey data from 410 farm households and used boosted regression trees to quantify the determinants of the land rentals. Our analyses provide three key findings. First, households with more plots equipped with irrigation infrastructure and closer distances to the nearest town were more likely to rent out land. Second, households rented out a larger share of their land when they had more irrigation infrastructure and lived close to Chengdu, the province capital. Third, the land reform pilot provided a modest but positive stimulus for land rentals. In sum, our results suggest that the supply and demand for land crucially hinges upon plot location and plot infrastructure.

An LADM–based model to facilitate land tenure reform of rural homesteads in China

The Land Administration Domain Model (LADM), an international standard (ISO 19152:2012), provides a conceptual data model for land administration. This study applies the LADM model to a previously unexplored case: the administration of homestead lands (residential lands) in rural China. In China, rural homestead tenures have been altered through several iterations since 1949, variously serving economic development, political governance and social security objectives. An intended contemporary reform of the homestead tenure system is based upon: (1) collective ownership by local communities; (2) qualification rights, a kind of personal servitude to safeguard the social security of individual community members; and (3) use rights, usufructuary interests offering management options to promote economic development. This work shows it is possible to translate this tripartite entitlement reform of rural homesteads into an LADM profile, with rights, persons, and land forming the base components. Four (sub) packages are formed, namely, Party, Administrative, Spatial Unit and Surveying and Representation. The work finds the LADM-based model, applied to the administration of China’s rural homesteads, could facilitate the land tenure reform of rural homesteads, enable interoperability with other aspects of land administration, and could support national responses to those Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relating to poverty eradication, rural revitalization and intensive land use.

Aboriginal Community Co-Design and Co-Build—Far More than a House

There is urgent need for a new model to address the housing crisis in remote Australian Indigenous communities. Decades of major government expenditure have not significantly improved the endemic problems, which include homelessness, overcrowding, substandard dwellings, and unemployment. Between 2017–2020, Foundation for Indigenous Sustainable Health (FISH) worked with the remote Kimberley Aboriginal community, Bawoorrooga, by facilitating the co-design and co-build of a culturally and climatically appropriate home with community members. This housing model incorporates a program of education, health, governance, justice system programs, and land tenure reforms. Build features incorporate sustainable local/recycled materials and earth construction, and ‘Solar Passive Design’. The project faced challenges, including limited funding, extreme climate and remoteness, cultural barriers, and mental health issues. Nevertheless, the program was ultimately successful, producing a house which is culturally designed, climatically/thermally effective, comparatively cheap to build, and efficient to run. The project produced improvements in mental health, schooling outcomes, reduced youth incarceration, and other spheres of community development, including enterprise and community governance. Co-design and co-build projects are slower and more complex than the conventional model of external contracting, but the outcomes can be far superior across broad areas of social and emotional wellbeing, house quality and comfort, energy consumption, long-term maintenance, community physical and mental health, pride, and ownership. These factors are essential in breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty, trauma, and engagement with the justice system. This paper provides a narrative case study of the project and outlines the core principles applied and the lessons learned.

Subnational institutions and power of landholders drive illegal deforestation in a major commodity production frontier

Deforestation is a main threat to the biosphere due to its contribution to biodiversity loss, carbon emissions, and land degradation. Most deforestation is illegal and continues unabated, representing around half of the total deforestation in the tropics and subtropics. Quantifying illegal deforestation is challenging, let alone assessing the social and institutional processes underlying its occurrence. We tackle this challenge by quantifying the relative influence of individual (i.e., landholders’ power, landholding size) and contextual (i.e., subnational institutions, agricultural suitability) factors on the type and size of illegal deforestation in the Argentine Dry Chaco, a major commodity production frontier and global deforestation hotspot. We build a Bayesian network fed with data of 244 illegal deforestation events, obtained from journalistic articles, grey literature, key informant interviews, and geospatial analyses. The results reveal that more powerful landholders were associated with larger illegal deforestation events. Policy simulations suggest that higher concentration of land in the hands of powerful landholders and more flexible subnational forest regulations would escalate illegal deforestation. This points to the need for a smart policy mix that integrates across economic, agricultural, and environmental sectors to halt illegal deforestation at commodity production frontiers. A land tenure reform can facilitate forest protection, while incentives to land-use diversification and the criminal prosecution of illegal deforestation are critical to shift landholder behavior towards more balanced production and conservation outcomes.

Property Rights, Land Circulation and Off-Farm Labor Supply: Evidence from a Land Tenure Reform in China

Property Rights, Land Circulation and Off-Farm Labor Supply: Evidence from a Land Tenure Reform in China

Institutional quality shapes cooperation with out-group strangers

Humans display a puzzling cross-population variation in the ability to cooperate with out-group members. One hypothesis is that impartial institutions substituting kith and kin as risk-buffering providers would favor the expansion of cooperative networks. Here I propose a research design that overcomes the endogeneity between institutions and preferences, making it possible to isolate the causal effects of institutional quality on out-group cooperation. I study a land tenure reform implemented as a randomized control-trial in hundreds of Beninese villages. The reform reduces the village community's discretion in regulating members' access to land by granting formal legal protection to individual rights-holders. Using a lab-in-the-field incentivized experiment (N = 576), I show that the reform significantly increases participants' cooperation with anonymous strangers from other villages. The results illustrate how humans' investments in in-group and out-group relationships are sensitive to cost-benefit evaluations, and emphasize that the institutional environment is a key driver of large-scale human cooperation.

Supporting Pro-Poor Reforms of Agricultural Systems in Eastern DRC (Africa) with Remotely Sensed Data: A Possible Contribution of Spatial Entropy to Interpret Land Management Practices

In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, agriculture represents the most important economic sector, and land control can be considered a perpetual source of conflict. Knowledge of the existing production system distribution is fundamental for both informing national land tenure reforms and guiding more effective agricultural development interventions. The present paper focuses on existing agricultural production systems in Katoyi collectivity, Masisi territory, where returning Internally and Externally Displaced People are resettling. We aim to define a repeatable methodology for building evidence-based and updated knowledge concerning the spatial distribution of the two existing production systems: subsistence-oriented agriculture (SOA) and business-oriented agriculture (BOA). To this aim, we used a supervised object-based classification approach on remotely sensed Sentinel-2 imagery to classify land cover. To classify production systems further within the “agriculture” and “pasture” land use classes, binary classification based on an entropy value threshold was performed. An iterative approach was adopted to define the final HNDVI threshold that minimised commission and omission errors and maximised overall accuracy and class separability. The methodology achieved acceptable observed accuracy (OA equal to 80–90% respectively for agricultural and pasture areas) in the assessment. SOA and BOA respectively covered 24.4 and 75.6% of the collectivity area (34,606 ha). The results conclude that land use and entropy analysis can draw an updated picture of existing land distribution among different production systems, supporting better-adapted intervention strategies in development cooperation and pro-poor agrarian land tenure reforms in conflict-ridden landscapes.

Vulnerabilities and Threats to Natural Forest Regrowth: Land Tenure Reform, Land Markets, Pasturelands, Plantations, and Urbanization in Indigenous Communities in Mexico

Despite the economic and social costs of national and international efforts to restore millions of hectares of deforested and degraded landscapes, results have not met expectations due to land tenure conflicts, land-use transformation, and top-down decision-making policies. Privatization of land, expansion of cattle raising, plantations, and urbanization have created an increasingly competitive land market, dispossessing local communities and threatening forest conservation and regeneration. In contrast to significant investments in reforestation, natural regrowth, which could contribute to landscape regeneration, has not been sufficiently promoted by national governments. This study analyzes socio-ecological and economic vulnerabilities of indigenous and other peasant communities in the Mexican states of Veracruz, Chiapas, and Morelos related to the inclusion of natural regeneration in their forest cycles. While these communities are located within protected areas (Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve, Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, El Tepozteco National Park, and Chichinautzin Biological Corridor), various threats and vulnerabilities impede natural regeneration. Although landscape restoration involves complex political, economic, and social relationships and decisions by a variety of stakeholders, we focus on communities’ vulnerable land rights and the impacts of privatization on changes in land use and forest conservation. We conclude that the social, economic, political, and environmental vulnerabilities of the study communities threaten natural regeneration, and we explore necessary changes for incorporating this process in landscape restoration.