Why do Overlapping Land Rights Discourage Investment in Agriculture?: Customary Land Tenure System in West Africa

Kimura, Yuichi (2024): Why do Overlapping Land Rights Discourage Investment in Agriculture?: Customary Land Tenure System in West Africa.

Abstract

Under the customary land tenure system in Ghana, family land allocated through matrilineal ties is associated with a lower propensity to take up rubber cultivation and lower yields when they do. Land tenure insecurity is associated with lower yields, as conventional wisdom suggests. Much of the effect of tenure insecurity on rubber yields is explained by this reduced labor input of family members, rather than by the material input or lack of collateral function of land. Also, tenure insecurity stems from undefined rights between household members rather than between lineage group members. The rubber company’s interventions to reconcile land tenure among lineage members had the effect of mitigating family land gaps by reducing family members’ disincentives to work on family land.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Land tenure institution, land use, land titling, investment in agriculture
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q12 - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q15 - Land Ownership and Tenure ; Land Reform ; Land Use ; Irrigation ; Agriculture and Environment

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