Land sector reforms in ghana, kenya and vietnam

A comparative analysis of their effectiveness

authored by

Peter Narh, Cosmas Kombat Lambini, Matthew Sabbi, Van Dien Pham, Trung Thanh Nguyen

Abstract

The notion that the formal titling and individualization of land rights in developing countries lead to higher investments in land and agricultural productivity holds sway in academic and development circles. In this paper, this notion is analyzed based on a comparative study of land reform programs and their implications for access to land, credit, and agricultural investments in Ghana, Kenya, and Vietnam. It focuses on how different access routes to land influence access to credit, and the transaction costs of land reform programs for agricultural investments. The paper concludes that in developing countries, the transaction costs of land reforms for investments can significantly increase if the influence of power is not addressed in order to reduce unequal access to land. The practical implementation of land reform is influenced by many factors, including the control on political power. Thus, measures must accompany implementation to check the use of power to derail land reform objectives. Moreover, the paper supports the argument that land reforms should be implemented in their local contexts so as to have positive effects on agriculture.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Environmental Economics and World Trade

External Organisation(s)

Farafina Institute (FI)
University of Bayreuth
Vietnam National University of Forestry

Type

Review article

Journal

Land

Volume

5

Publication date

01.06.2016

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Global and Planetary Change, Ecology, Nature and Landscape Conservation

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 2 - Zero Hunger

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.3390/land5020008 (Access: Open)