IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/prodev/v3y2003i3p210-222.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Land tenure reform in Africa: a shift to the defensive

Author

Listed:
  • Robert E. Smith

    (London, UK, robert@smith7977.freeserve.co.uk)

Abstract

Land tenure reform has been advocated as an instrument of development in sub-Saharan Africa since before Independence, based on a neoclassical economic model promising greater agricultural productivity as a result of titling. This in turn, it was suggested, would promote land investments, credit supply and efficient land markets. Titling policies were justified in the 1980s by evidence from southeast Asia, particularly Thailand. However, empirical studies in Africa have largely failed to find any of the promised positive effects; indeed they have revealed negative effects of titling policies, especially by worsening the tenure insecurity of poor farmers whom such policies should have helped. In the last decade the discourse of land tenure reform in Africa has departed from promises of increased incomes and shifted to a conservative, defensive stance, focused on preserving livelihoods against élite predation. This paper explores why the neoclassical model has not borne fruit in sub-Saharan Africa, describes inherent weaknesses in the model as applied to the African context and suggests methods by which the model could be better tested before dismissing entirely the use of tenure reform as an instrument against poverty.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert E. Smith, 2003. "Land tenure reform in Africa: a shift to the defensive," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 3(3), pages 210-222, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:3:y:2003:i:3:p:210-222
    DOI: 10.1191/1464993403ps062oa
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1191/1464993403ps062oa
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1191/1464993403ps062oa?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Feder, Gershon & Noronha, Raymond, 1987. "Land Rights Systems and Agricultural Development in Sub-Saharan Afric a," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 2(2), pages 143-169, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Ayoola, J. B . & Mohamadou, S. & Abu, G. A. & Umeh, J. C . & Asogwa, B. C . & Ayoola, G. B. & Sani, R. M., 2022. "Effect of Land Administration on allocative efficiency of Rice Farmers Under Public and Private Authorities in Dadinkowa Irrigation Area in North-Eastern Nigeria," Nigerian Agricultural Policy Research Journal (NAPReJ), Agricultural Policy Research Network (APRNet), vol. 9(1), December.
    2. Mackinnon, John & Reinikka, Ritva, 2000. "Lessons from Uganda on strategies to fight poverty," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2440, The World Bank.
    3. Cuffaro, Nadia, 1997. "Population growth and agriculture in poor countries: A review of theoretical issues and empirical evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 1151-1163, July.
    4. 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.
    5. Emran, M. Shahe & Shilpi, Forhad, 2015. "Do Land Market Restrictions Hinder Structural Change in a Rural Economy? Evidence from Sri Lanka," MPRA Paper 66017, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Richens, Peter, 2009. "The economic legacies of the ‘thin white line’: indirect rule and the comparative development of sub-Saharan Africa," Economic History Working Papers 27879, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    7. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Payongayong, Ellen & Aidoo, J. B. & Otsuka, Keijiro, 1999. "Women's land rights in the transition to individualized ownership," FCND discussion papers 58, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    8. Ghebru, Hosaena, 2015. "Is There a Merit to the Continuum Tenure Approach? A Case of Demand for Land Rights Formulation in Rural Mozambique," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211683, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Otsuka, Keijiro & Suyanto, S. & Sonobe, Tetsushi & Tomich, Thomas P., 2001. "Evolution of land tenure institutions and development of agroforestry: evidence from customary land areas of Sumatra," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 85-101, June.
    10. François-Régis Mahieu, 1989. "Principes économiques et sociétés africaines," Revue Tiers Monde, Programme National Persée, vol. 30(120), pages 725-753.
    11. Akaateba, Millicent Awialie, 2019. "The politics of customary land rights transformation in peri-urban Ghana: Powers of exclusion in the era of land commodification," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    12. Zhllima, Edvin & Rama, Klodjan & Imami, Drini, 2021. "Agriculture land markets in transition - The inherited challenge of the post-communist land reform in Albania," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    13. Guirkinger, Catherine & Platteau, Jean-Philippe, 2015. "Transformation of the family farm under rising land pressure: A theoretical essay," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 112-137.
    14. Firmin-Sellers, Kathryn & Sellers, Patrick, 1999. "Expected Failures and Unexpected Successes of Land Titling in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 1115-1128, July.
    15. François BLANC & Richard W. MATTHEWMAN, 1995. "COOPÉRATIVES ET GESTION COMMUNALE EN ÉLEVAGE: Un aperçu cornparatif entre pays en voie de développement anglophones et francophones," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(3), pages 253-274, September.
    16. Dommen, Arthur J., 1994. "Land Tenure and Agricultural Production in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Market-Oriented Approach to Analyzing Their Interactions," Staff Reports 278744, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    17. Sylvie Lambert & Martin Ravallion & Dominique van de Walle, 2011. "Is It What You Inherited Or What You Learnt?: Intergenerational linkage and interpersonal inequality in Senegal," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2011-062, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    18. Bosco Bashangwa Mpozi & Mireille Mizero & Andrew Ogolla Egesa & Paul M. Dontsop Nguezet & Bernard Vanlauwe & Patrice Ndimanya & Philippe Lebailly, 2020. "Land Access in the Development of Horticultural Crops in East Africa. A Case Study of Passion Fruit in Burundi, Kenya, and Rwanda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, April.
    19. Ortmann, Gerald F., 2000. "Promoting competitiveness in South African agriculture and agribusiness: The role of institutions," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 39(4), pages 1-33, March.
    20. Pi Jiancai & Zhou Yu, 2015. "Rural Property Rights, Migration, and Welfare in Developing Countries," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(3), pages 997-1029, July.

    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:sae:prodev:v:3:y:2003:i:3:p:210-222. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.