This policy note summarizes research examining the medium-term impact of land registration in Ethiopia on household investment behavior, specifically in terms of the adoption of soil conservation techniques and tree planting. The research investigated whether men’s and women’s knowledge of their land rights—defined as tenure security, land transfer rights, and rights related to gender equity and inheritance—had an impact on their investment behavior.

Brief

Although theory predicts that better property rights to land can increase land productivity through tenure security effects (investment effects) and through more efficient input use due to enhanced tradability of the land (factor intensity effect), empirical studies on the size and magnitude of these effects are very scarce.

While there are ample empirical studies that claim the potential disincentive effects of sharecropping arrangements, the existing literature is shallow in explaining why share tenancy contracts are prevalent and diffusing in many developing countries. Using a unique tenant-landlord matched dataset from the Tigray region of Ethiopia, we are able to show how the tenants’ strategic response to the varying economic and tenure-security status of the landlords can explain sharecroppers’ productivity differentials.

The share of agriculture in the GDP declined from 16 percent in the 1990s to almost 14 percent in 2010. Meanwhile, those employed in agriculture as a percent of total labor force is declining since 1960 to 2006. Despite losing labor and share of the GDP, agriculture is, and will continue to be, among the major economic activities in Egypt, and a generator for economic growth. The balance between agriculture and other productive sectors of the economy require proper spatial and land use planning. Land tenure is central to this planning exercise.

This review of land tenure in West Asia and North Africa (WANA or the Near

East region) places contemporary developments in their historical context. Land

tenure in the region has its origins in state, customary or religious law, or more often a

combination of the three. With the ascendancy of the nation state over the past

century, official legal systems has sought to entrench sovereignty over land with the

abolition of customary law and the evolution of

Shari’ah to deal with modern needs of

This training manual is for people working on emergency response and disaster risk management; it

aims to provide an overview of the major land issues that may arise following a natural disaster that

require consideration and inclusion in the decision-making processes associated with response,

recovery and rehabilitation. These issues also should be considered for inclusion in follow-on

reconstruction and development projects to improve tenure security for the more vulnerable as part of a

disaster mitigation process.

Land Tenure Working Paper 16 Governance of Land Tenure Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) looks at the land governance situation in the region. It has been prepared to provide a base for discussion for the regional consultation meetings on the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and other Natural Resources. The objective of the study is to evaluate the current land governance situation in the region and to identify main achievements as well as remaining challenges.

One of the striking features of transition from plan to market in CIS agriculture is the

dramatic shift from the predominance of large corporate farms (kolkhozy and sovkhozy,

generally referred to as agricultural enterprises) to individual or family agriculture based on a

spectrum of small farms. The individual sector, combining the traditional household plots and

the new peasant farms that began to emerge after 1992, accounts for most of agricultural

production and controls a large share of arable land. This is a dramatic change from the pre-

What are the impacts of the increasing spread of biofuels on access to land in producer countries, particularly for poorer rural people? Biofuels could revitalise rural agriculture and livelihoods or, where there are competing claims on land exclude poorer land and resource users. This study documents current knowledge on current and potential impacts of commercial biofuel production for access to land in Africa, Latin America and Asia, charting both negative experiences and promising approaches.

This guide is written for people who work in land administration and all those with an interest in land, land tenure and their governance. Although much has been written about the importance of good governance in achieving development goals, there is comparatively little material on good governance in land tenure and administration. Failings in governance have adverse consequences for society as a whole. By contrast, good governance can help achieve economic development and the reduction of poverty. Good governance matters.

FAO has a long interest in addressing the management of conflict to reduce uncertainty and improve wellbeing, particularly for the most vulnerable in society. This manual focuses on how to manage and resolve conflicts over land tenure rights, security of tenure and land access in the field of rural development. It results from complementary activities undertaken within FAO’s Livelihood Support Programme (LSP) and Land Tenure Service.