Land tenure security and poverty reduction

Land is fundamental to the lives of poor rural people. It is a source of food, shelter, income and social identity. Secure access to land reduces vulnerability to hunger and poverty. But for many of the world’s extremely poor rural people in developing countries, secure access is becoming more tenuous than ever.

Competition for land has never been greater. Pressure on land is increasing as a result of a rising world population, climate change, declining soil fertility and the need for global food and fuel security. With countries and businesses now recognizing the potential of growing some biofuel crops on land that cannot sustain food crops, even less-fertile land may now have value.

There are some 1.4 billion extremely poor people in the world, struggling to survive on less than US$1.25 a day. Seventy-five per cent live in the rural areas of developing countries. In rural societies, the poorest people often have weak or unprotected tenure rights. Women are particularly vulnerable because their land rights are often obtained through relationships with men. If the male link is severed, women can lose those rights.

When insufficient attention is paid to land access and tenure issues, development projects can become part of the problem. For example, when irrigation is introduced into previously rainfed farmland or roads are built to link farmers to markets, the new economic potential of the land makes it more attractive, and small-scale producers can lose their land to more affluent or powerful settlers.

Tenure security is important not only for agricultural production. It also allows poor people to diversify their livelihoods by using their land as collateral, renting it out or realizing its value through sale.

Land issues affect the everyday choices of poor rural men and women, such as which crops to grow and whether crops are grown for subsistence or commercial purposes. They influence the extent to which farmers are prepared to invest in their land or to adopt new technologies and promising innovations. Land issues also influence how poor rural people manage natural resources. Lack of secure land tenure has contributed to social instability and conflict in many parts of the world.

Today, public and private corporations, investment banks and hedge funds are buying millions of hectares of land in Africa, Asia and Latin America to produce food or agrofuels. This trend offers developing countries an opportunity to attract foreign investment, but it also brings a potential threat to the land rights of small-scale producers and indigenous communities.

Even when the lands taken over are classified as communal, idle or marginal, they may provide a vital base for the livelihoods of poor people, especially women, who may use the land for crop farming, herding, or collecting fuelwood or medicines.

Land tenure security is just one step on the road to reducing rural poverty. To be effective, measures to increase tenure security must be complemented by pro-poor policies, services and investments. Policies beyond the national level are needed to address such issues as migration, pastoralism and conflicts that cut across regional and national boundaries.

What should be done?
Policies and legislation must recognize the many facets of land rights and usage. Above all, poor rural people must be able to participate in policy formulation to ensure that their needs and rights are adequately addressed and protected.

Securing land rights is a complicated business. Land tenure systems are diverse and complex. They can be formal or informal, statutory or customary, permanent or temporary. Some are legally recognized, others are not. Some involve private ownership, others are based on common property.

There is no single land issue, and no single solution. Legally registered individual land rights are not always the best solution for poor rural people. Many depend on more flexible, diversified, decentralized and common-property systems, where they can exert greater influence. Sometimes improved tenancy arrangements meet the needs of small and landless farmers better than private ownership. Formal, individual legal titles can be expensive and may benefit elite members of society more than poor rural people. Policy frameworks need to accommodate and build on customary norms and practices.

It is often better to develop traditional administrative systems than to establish new, formal systems of land ownership. This is particularly true of communal and common-property lands, which are very important to the livelihoods of poor rural people. In addition, mechanisms for securing indigenous peoples’ rights to their lands are important to cultural survival.

IFAD and land tenure security
IFAD’s experience in empowering poor rural people leaves it well positioned to support their active role in developing new land policies and legislation.

In recognition of the fact that land tenure systems have a major impact on the outcome of development projects, access to land and productive resources is one of IFAD’s key strategic objectives. Through its programmes and projects, the organization supports: land policy formulation, redistribution programmes, securing of collective and individual customary rights, strengthening of links between land tenure security and sustainable land management, and improving and securing women’s access to land. IFAD’s partners in this endeavour include: governments, civil society organizations, development institutions and other United Nations agencies, particularly the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). IFAD is also a founding member of the International Land Coalition and hosts its secretariat.

In late 2008, IFAD’s Executive Board endorsed a new policy on access to land and tenure security, underscoring the importance of land issues to the organization. IFAD worked with the African Union Commission and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa to draft pan-African land policy guidelines. These were endorsed by the Summit of the African Union Heads of State and Government in 2009. IFAD is also collaborating with FAO and others to formulate global voluntary guidelines for good land governance.

Glossary

• Land: farmland, wetlands, pastures and forest
• Land tenure: rules, norms and institutions that govern access to land
• Land tenure security: enforceable claims on land supported by national regulatory frameworks

Source: IFAD