HOW CAN LAND TENURE REFORM CONTRIBUTE TO POVERTY
REDUCTION ?
DRAFT SUMMARY OF PRESENTATION FOR EU RURAL FORUM
Montpelier, 4-6 September 2002
Julian Quan, Land Policy Adviser DFID
1. Is the topic adequately addressed in government policy and donor
cooperation strategies ?
 The key role of secure rights to land in enabling productive livelihood
opportunities (and access to services ) for the poor is not always
recognised (in national development, donor assistance plans and
PRSPs
 Donors are applying new aid instruments – e.g. direct budget support
and sector wide approaches. So far it is not clear how these can work
in delivering land rights and land-based opportunities to the poor. Land
reforms are complex, political and long term processes which involve a
wide range of sectors and stakeholders
 Complementary action is needed to provide appropriate technical
assistance, generate knowledge and learning processes for those
involved build capacity and advocate for land rights in civil society
2. Effectiveness of main policies applied ?
 Land titling: Premised on the view that individual property rights will
enable land markets to put land to its most efficient use. Effective in
some contexts, not in others (most of Africa) and can be anti-poor: –
high cost / low coverage, may undermine established access rights of
poor and women, little impact on credit supply and investment
 Technical support to land institutions: (often linked to titling) popular
with land professionals but ineffective if it stands alone
 Land redistribution and resettlement: can work under the right (political)
conditions; must be a long term cross-sectoral effort also improving
access to services and markets. Continuing debate about roles of state
and markets
 Decollectivisation / privatisation: effective in its own terms but must be
linked to protection of rights and opportunities for small farmers to
benefit the poor
3. Best practice lessons
 Land and tenure reforms by themselves do not reduce poverty: must
be linked to wider efforts – production and service support, market
access, trade policy
 Land institutions are a key part of the governance environment: moving
land administration, management and planning closer to the people is
important (subsidiarity, accessibility, accountability)
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Tenure can be secured by legal recognition of established customary
and other de facto rights, through intermediate forms of tenure and
using rental markets.
Civil society and stakeholder participation is critical to land policy
reform and planning of land reform programmes
Better joined up working by donors (and Banks) with governments is
needed, coordinated in-country
4. Promising new approaches
 Decentralised, community based land rights management,
incorporating customary authorities (especially for sub-saharan Africa)
 Negotiated land reforms involving farmers organisations, rural unions
and pro-poor NGOs as intermediaries (land leasing & public land
access in S.Asia; equity sharing – S.Africa)
 Rights based approaches: enhancing people’s ability to claim and
defend their rights – links to programmes for access to justice, and
resolution of land disputes/ conflicts.
5. Knowledge gaps
 Functioning of formal and informal land markets, market responses to
land interventions and impacts on the poor
 Farm size, efficiency and pro-poor agricultural growth in context of
globalised markets. How can community / commercial sector
partnerhips work?
 Performance and poverty impacts of decentralised land institutions
 Effectiveness and impacts of different approaches to distributional land
reform: How to combine market / state / civil society roles?
 [when] is land taxation effective in raising revenue and as a
distributional measure ?
 Value of ongoing M&E and action research to support land
programmes and policy development
6.
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Strengthening EU member states / EC roles
Closer collaboration at country level – joint programme funding
Strengthen EC delegation knowledge of land issues
Strengthen linkage of land with wider rural development and poverty
reduction programmes
 Longer term programme / project frameworks
 Maintain flexibility for small scale / short term / high impact / problem
solving / piloting and learning-by-doing activities, within a longer term
framework
 Focus EU / EC coordination efforts in pilot countries (Namibia?
Malawi?)