IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/lauspo/v81y2019icp680-688.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Customary Land titling and inter-generational wealth transfer in Malawi: Will secondary Land rights holders maintain their Land rights?

Author

Listed:
  • Zuka, Sane Pashane

Abstract

Malawi promulgated Customary Land Act, 2016, as a step towards achieving triple objectives of land tenure security, efficient land-use and improved land market. Customary land, however, consists of multiple and competing land rights. Mobilizing the concept of intergenerational wealth transfer, this paper explores the extent to which secondary land rights are going to be preserved within the new law. The paper explores three questions namely: what provisions has the new law provided for registration of secondary land rights? How is the new law shaping motivations for registration of secondary land rights? What are the likely outcomes of the new law on land tenure security of secondary land rights? Employing mixed research methodology, the study findings demonstrate that the assumption that land titling will protect secondary land rights is grossly misplaced. Instead, land insecurity among secondary land rights holders may become more visible and worse than before. This is largely so because the new law has failed to respond to the lineal logic of customary land rights embedded in lineal kinship.

Suggested Citation

  • Zuka, Sane Pashane, 2019. "Customary Land titling and inter-generational wealth transfer in Malawi: Will secondary Land rights holders maintain their Land rights?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 680-688.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:81:y:2019:i:c:p:680-688
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.11.039
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837718305878
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.11.039?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sjaastad, Espen & Bromley, Daniel W., 1997. "Indigenous land rights in sub-Saharan Africa: Appropriation, security and investment demand," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 549-562, January.
    2. Scott, Anthony, 2008. "The Evolution of Resource Property Rights," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198286035.
    3. Christopher Adam & Stefan Dercon, 2009. "The political economy of development: an assessment," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 25(2), pages 173-189, Summer.
    4. Place, Frank & Otsuka, Keijiro, 2001. "Tenure, Agricultural Investment, and Productivity in the Customary Tenure Sector of Malawi," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(1), pages 77-99, October.
    5. Jean‐Philippe Platteau, 1996. "The Evolutionary Theory of Land Rights as Applied to Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Critical Assessment," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 27(1), pages 29-86, January.
    6. Chang, Ha-Joon, 2011. "Reply to the comments on ‘Institutions and Economic Development: Theory, Policy and History’," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(4), pages 595-613, December.
    7. Chang, Ha-Joon, 2011. "Institutions and economic development: theory, policy and history," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(4), pages 473-498, December.
    8. Pauline Peters & Daimon Kambewa, 2007. "Whose Security? Deepening Social Conflict over ‘Customary’ Land in the Shadow of Land Tenure Reform in Malawi," CID Working Papers 142, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yuh-Jin Bae, 2021. "Analyzing the Changes of the Meaning of Customary Land in the Context of Land Grabbing in Malawi," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-21, August.
    2. Haiyang Shang & Ying Kou & Fang Su & Nini Song & Shuxin Mao, 2021. "The Policy Effect, Spatial Heterogeneity, and Spillover Effect of Land System Pilots," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, October.
    3. Jianying Wang & Yumei Xu & Lilin Zou & Ying Wang, 2021. "Does Culture Affect Farmer Willingness to Transfer Rural Land? Evidence from Southern Fujian, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-19, June.
    4. James Natia Adam & Timothy Adams & Jean-David Gerber, 2021. "The Politics of Decentralization: Competition in Land Administration and Management in Ghana," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-19, September.
    5. Chikaya-Banda, Janet & Chilonga, Davie, 2021. "Key challenges to advancing land tenure security through land governance in Malawi: Impact of land reform processes on implementation efforts," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    6. García-Morán, Ana & Yates, Julian S., 2022. "In between rights and power: Women’s land rights and the gendered politics of land ownership, use, and management in Mexican ejidos," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Klaus Deininger & Daniel Ayalew Ali & Takashi Yamano, 2008. "Legal Knowledge and Economic Development: The Case of Land Rights in Uganda," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 84(4), pages 593-619.
    2. Place, Frank, 2009. "Land Tenure and Agricultural Productivity in Africa: A Comparative Analysis of the Economics Literature and Recent Policy Strategies and Reforms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 1326-1336, August.
    3. Hagos, Hosaena Ghebru, 2012. "Tenure (in)security and agricultural investment of smallholder farmers in Mozambique:," MSSP working papers 5, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Fenske, James, 2011. "Land tenure and investment incentives: Evidence from West Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 137-156, July.
    5. Stéphane Korsaga, 2018. "Land Tenure Security, Land-Related Investments and Agricultural Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa: Efficiency or Equity? A Microeconomic Analysis Applied to the Case of Burkina Faso," Working Papers halshs-01699118, HAL.
    6. Fu, Tong & Jian, Ze, 2020. "A developmental state: How to allocate electricity efficiently in a developing country," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    7. Xiaorui Wang & Shen Hu, 2024. "How do organizations in Chinese agriculture perceive sustainability certification schemes? An exploratory analysis," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 42(3), May.
    8. Thomas Vendryes, 2014. "Peasants Against Private Property Rights: A Review Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 971-995, December.
    9. Daniel Ayalew Ali & Stefan Dercon & Madhur Gautam, 2011. "Property rights in a very poor country: tenure insecurity and investment in Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 42(1), pages 75-86, January.
    10. Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Deininger, Klaus & Goldstein, Markus, 2014. "Environmental and gender impacts of land tenure regularization in Africa: Pilot evidence from Rwanda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 262-275.
    11. Tiia-Lotta Pekkanen, 2021. "Institutions and Agency in the Sustainability of Day-to-Day Consumption Practices: An Institutional Ethnographic Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(2), pages 241-260, January.
    12. Cling, Jean-Pierre & Delecourt, Clément, 2022. "Interlinkages between the Sustainable Development Goals," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    13. Holden, Stein T. & Otsuka, Keijiro, 2014. "The roles of land tenure reforms and land markets in the context of population growth and land use intensification in Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 88-97.
    14. David Asante Edwin & Evam Kofi Glover & Edinam K. Glover, 2020. "When Tradition Meets Modernity in Land Registration: Evidence from Dagbon, Ghana," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-28, October.
    15. Orihuela, José Carlos & Mendieta, Arturo & Pérez, Carlos & Ramírez, Tania, 2021. "From paper institutions to bureaucratic autonomy: Institutional change as a resource curse remedy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    16. Frolov, Daniil, 2019. "From institutions to extitutions to the post-institutional theory of institutional anomalies," MPRA Paper 95960, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Sep 2019.
    17. Kazeem B. Ajide & Olorunfemi Y. Alimi & Simplice A. Asongu & Ibrahim D. Raheem, 2022. "The role of institutional infrastructures in financial inclusion‐growth relations: Evidence from SSA," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 175-191, January.
    18. Baker, Matthew J. & Conning, Jonathan, 2021. "The Transformations of Customary Property Regimes in Africa: An Analytical Framing," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315325, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    19. Tong Fu & Ze Jian & Youwei Li, 2023. "How state ownership affects corporate R&D: An inverted‐U‐shaped relationship," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 3183-3197, July.
    20. Mertzanis, Charilaos, 2019. "Family ties, institutions and financing constraints in developing countries," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:81:y:2019:i:c:p:680-688. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joice Jiang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/land-use-policy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.