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Previous studies of land contracts have focused more on efficiency questions than on determinants of access to land and dynamics of access. By looking closely at the question of access to land, the authors conclude:land rental contracts more friendly to the poor than land sales markets to access land. Policy implication: promote land rental markets instead of land sales markets (other market failures remain) or land-market assisted land reform (too expensive)increasing capitalisation of agriculture and aging/absenteeism of landlords make entry into sharecropping more difficult for poor (assortative matching). Policy implication: Give potential tenants: i) Access to wealth-independent sources of credit (informal financial institutions), ii) Training in management (extension services for potential and current tenants).
