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Land tenure security and its implications for investments to urban agriculture in Soweto, South Africa

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  • Suchá, Lenka
  • Schlossarek, Martin
  • Dušková, Lenka
  • Malan, Naudé
  • Šarapatka, Bořivoj

Abstract

Land tenure regime is considered one of the most crucial assets determining viability of urban agriculture, especially in terms of investments. Many authors have built on traditional agricultural theory that only land ownership and (formal) secure land tenure can incite investments into farming, thus stressing the need of secure land tenure for more prosperous urban agriculture. However, these statements are often built on weak or nonexistent empirical evidence. This research aims to contribute to the discussion on land tenure for urban agriculture by mixed-method exploration of the above-mentioned theory. Additionally, we propose a farming investment index which measures the level of investments by using non-monetary information obtained from respondents. The results of our study show that land tenure security for urban farmers is often seen as a rather narrow concept, focusing only on legal tenure security but omitting its other dimensions such as perceived and de facto tenure security. Nevertheless, all three dimensions of tenure security positively influence investments to urban agriculture.

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  • Suchá, Lenka & Schlossarek, Martin & Dušková, Lenka & Malan, Naudé & Šarapatka, Bořivoj, 2020. "Land tenure security and its implications for investments to urban agriculture in Soweto, South Africa," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:97:y:2020:i:c:s0264837719317478
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104739
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    1. Suchá, Lenka & Dušková, Lenka, 2022. "Land access mechanisms of Soweto farmers: Moving beyond legal land tenure for urban agriculture," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
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    3. Dan Li & Wenjing Zhong & Yitao Chen, 2022. "The Role of Farmland Titling in Urban Agricultural Resilience: Evidence from Metropolitan Guangzhou, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-20, November.
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    5. Laiyou Zhou & Hua Lu & Jinlang Zou, 2023. "Impact of Land Property Rights Security Cognition on Farmland Quality Protection: Evidence from Chinese Farmers," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, January.

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