Impacts Of Land Certification On Tenure Security, Investment, And Land Markets: Evidence From Ethiopia

Abstract

While early attempts at land titling in Africa were often unsuccessful, the need to secure land rights has kindled renewed interest, in view of increased demand for land, a range of individual and communal rights available under new laws, and reduced costs from combining information technology with participatory methods. We used a difference-in-difference approach to assess the effects of a low-cost land registration program in Ethiopia, which covered some 20 million plots over five years, on investment. Despite policy constraints, the program increased land-related investment and yielded benefits significantly above the cost of implementation.

Understanding patterns of tree adoption on farms in semi-arid and sub-humid Ethiopia

“…In an African context, gender of head of household may influence what trees are on a farm, because female headed households may take different decisions about managing trees than male-headed households. Traditional land/tree tenure systems often do not allow women to plant trees according to their own preference unless men approve, even though it is the women who bear the burden of taking care of raising trees and collecting firewood (Deininger et al 2009). Family size and composition can also matter in terms of sufficiency and quality of labour to manage trees on farm while it is impossible to determine a priori the direction of the influence on adoption of this broad category (Pattanayak et al 2003).…”

“…In Ethiopia, the land remains state owned while the constitution affirms the right of every adult access to land. The recent effort to improve security of land tenure in Ethiopia includes a land certification through decentralized mechanisms, where the regional government would issue land certificates to individual farmers (ARD Inc. 2004;Deininger et al 2008Deininger et al , 2009). Experiences of land resettlements and ''grabs'' where the government designate certain areas for development, such as for irrigation schemes, outside investors or internal redistribution (Deininger et al 2009;ARD Inc. 2004) can however influence tree planting positively or negatively depending on context.…”

“…The recent effort to improve security of land tenure in Ethiopia includes a land certification through decentralized mechanisms, where the regional government would issue land certificates to individual farmers (ARD Inc. 2004;Deininger et al 2008Deininger et al , 2009). Experiences of land resettlements and ''grabs'' where the government designate certain areas for development, such as for irrigation schemes, outside investors or internal redistribution (Deininger et al 2009;ARD Inc. 2004) can however influence tree planting positively or negatively depending on context. An interesting case was reported in Northern Ethiopia where tree planting was undertaken after land resettlement, as a way to visibly manifest land rights, whereas terracing was done in situations where there was a minimum level of tenure security (Deininger and Jin 2006).…”

The context of REDD+ in Ethiopia: Drivers, agents and institutions

“…Although there are different opinions on the motivations behind the program and its economic impact, there is some tangible evidence that it has had a positive impact on farmers' willingness to invest in land, including by planting trees. (Holden 2008;Deininger et al 2009) …”

Migration Pressure, Tenure Security, and Agricultural Intensification: Evidence from Indonesia

“…Studies that have addressed in one way or another endogeneity problems show mixed results ranging from positive (see e.g. Bandiera, 2007;Deininger and Jin, 2003;Feder, 2007;Do and Yyer, 2008;Goldstein and Udry, 2008;Holden et al, 2009;Deininger et al, 2011;Ali et al, 2011) to heterogeneous, partly insignificant if not negative effects (see e.g. Besley, 1995;Otsuka et al, 2003;Braselle, 2002;Jacoby and Minten, 2007;Van den Broeck et al, 2007).…”