Monitoring Report

Publications By
& About RDI

Rapid Rural
Appraisal Method

RDI Reports

Related Links

Managing Nepal’s Forests for Equitable and Sustainable Access and Use: A Land Tenure Perspective
Robin Nielsen
July 2008

A paper prepared with the support of the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation

Women’s Land Rights in Rwanda: How can they be protected and strengthened as the Land Law is implemented?  
Jennifer Brown and Justine Uvuza
September 2006  

This report discusses the importance of strengthening women’s rights to land in Rwanda, a country where civil war, genocide and HIV/AIDS have resulted in female-headed households constituting 30 percent of all households in the country. As in much of the developing world, women in Rwanda are heavily involved in and dependent on agriculture. However, despite women’s dependence on land, their access to land generally hinges on their relationships with their birth or marital families and they rarely hold land in their own right. Women in Rwanda still face customary restrictions on land acquisition. The report provides research findings of women’s current land rights, including the rights of women widowed from HIV/AIDS and the Rwandan genocide. The report also discusses Rwanda’s new body of land legislation, RDI’s efforts to develop complementary land legislation to ensure that women’s land rights are taken into careful account, and suggested next steps.

Productivity of Intensively Used Homestead Plots in a Central Javan Village
Robert Mitchell, Roy L. Prosterman, and Akhmad Safik
October 2006

Most programs to help poor rural families begin with the presumption that rural families require full-sized farms—often as large as two or more hectares—in order for the family to make any meaningful use of the land. Because land is often scarce in densely populated regions, there is not sufficient land to distribute to each family and this option is therefore taken off the table as means of addressing persistent poverty. However, the presumption that a small plot of land cannot provide meaningful benefits to a family merits further analysis. This study in a village of Central Java, Indonesia, examines the many benefits that families derive from homestead plots (pekarangans) as small as 25 m2 and concludes that homestead plots can contribute significantly to household income and nutrition. In our sample, sale of production from homestead plots increased the cash income of families by an average of 25 percent, with some as high as 67 percent, making homestead plots a viable option to address rural poverty.

#121

From Sharecroppers to Landowners:
Paving the Way for West Bengal’s Bargadars
Robin Nielsen and Tim Hanstad
August 2004

In the Indian state of West Bengal, many sharecroppers—known as bargadars—are seeking ways to gain ownership of the land they farm. On their own initiative, bargadars and landowners have negotiated a variety of agreements to transfer ownership of barga land to bargadars. However, because West Bengal’s land reform law did not fully anticipate these voluntary agreements, they are costly and administratively cumbersome, deterring many potential transactions. This report provides a brief history of the bargadars in West Bengal, and reviews the nature and extent of transactions in barga land and the legislative constraints on such transactions. The report concludes with an examination of various alternative methods the State could adopt to support the aspirations of bargadars while also maintaining the protective achievements of land reform.

#120

Ejidos and Comunidades in Oaxaca, Mexico:
Impact of the 1992 Reforms
Jennifer Brown
February 2004

In 1992 the Mexican government made substantial changes to its land policy regarding social sector (ejidal and comunidade) farming. The changes allow communally held ejidal farmland to be leased, used as collateral to secure credit, transferred and ultimately privatized. The 1992 reforms were also accompanied by a program to certify and register both ejidal and comunidade land rights. This report describes the impact of these reforms in the Mexican state of Oaxaca and finds the results to be mixed. The reforms have had a beneficial impact in resolving boundary disputes and in generally increasing tenure security. However, the reforms have also eroded women’s land rights. Other anticipated results of the reforms, such as increased leasing and access to credit, have not occurred on a wide-scale.

#119

The Impact of Land Titling in the Ukraine:
An Examination of the Results from an 800 Person Random-Sample Survey
Leonard Rolfes, Jr.
December 2003

During the 1990's, 6.7 million rural Ukrainians received rights to about 27 million hectares (67 million acres) of agricultural land that had been farmed by the collective and state farms. However, these rights were commonly held "land shares" that proved difficult to use in practice. In response, in 1999 the Government of Ukraine (with foreign aid support) began converting these land shares into privately owned individual land parcels with corresponding title documents. About half of the land shares have been converted thus far.

The survey assesses the impact of this land titling effort, and finds that it has provided meaningful benefits to Ukraine's people. Most notably: (1) new landowners have very positive attitudes toward land ownership; and (2) new landowners receive 32% more income per hectare from leasing out their land than do land share holders who have not yet had their land rights individualized and titled (most newly titled land, and land shares, are leased).

#118

Amending the West Bengal Land Reforms Act:
Benefiting the Poor and Marginalized
Tim Hanstad and Jennifer Brown
May 2003

This report details RDI’s suggested changes to West Bengal’s central land reform law. Two key changes include (1) a provision granting sharecroppers the right to assume ownership over a portion of the land they currently cultivate under a heavily regulated sharecropper-landowner relationship and (2) a requirement that all government-allocated land be granted either jointly to husband and wife or independently to a woman. This report is geared to policymakers in West Bengal, India and includes sample language for the proposed amendments.

#117

Land Reform in the 21st Century:
New Challenges, New Responses
Roy L. Prosterman, Tim Hanstad
March 2003

A revised and updated version of RDI Report 108, which explores how best to design and implement land reform in less-developed and transitional economies, now and in the future. The authors discuss the potential benefits of land reform, factors that make it possible, why it is often neglected, lessons from past land reform efforts, and the role of foreign donors and the media in promoting effective land reform.

#116

Women's Land Rights in West Bengal:
A Field Study
Jennifer Brown, Sujata Das Chowdhury
November 2002

This report summarizes RDI’s findings on women’s access to and ownership of land in West Bengal, India based on three rounds of research conducted in 2001 and 2002. It provides recommendations for changes in government policy and law to increase the number of women landowners and to strengthen the security of women’s access to land owned by their households.

#115

Allocating Homestead Plots as Land Reform:
Analysis from West Bengal
Tim Hanstad and Lokesh, S.B.
July 2002

A description of research findings from West Bengal, India which document the benefits of homestead plot allocation to the landless. A central point of the article is that one under-recognized component of land reforms in several Indian states—the allocation of homestead plots to landless laborers—deserves more attention and consideration. Studies of similar programs from a variety of international settings indicate that very small homestead or garden plots can confer multiple important benefits, in terms of food, income, status, and economic security.

#114

#113

Larger Homestead Plots as Land Reform?
International Experience and Analysis from Karnataka
Timothy M. Hanstad, Jennifer Brown, and Roy L. Prosterman
August 2001

A summary of relevant international experience and recent field research in India that point toward what would appear to be both an effective and practical land reform alternative, involving the provision of house and garden plots, that could provide the poorest of the poor an opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty.

#112

Land Reform Law and Implementation in West Bengal:
Lessons and Recommendations
Timothy M. Hanstad and Jennifer Brown
December 2001

This report attempts to distill lessons from West Bengal’s land reform experience, particularly the legislation and the means and methods by which the law was (and is) implemented. The report is based upon a review and analysis of the legislation, a review of the secondary literature including other field studies, and rapid appraisal field research in three districts of West Bengal.

#111

Agrarian Reform and Agricultural Productivity in the Russian Far East
Jennifer Duncan and Michelle Ruetschle
 May 2001

The product of RDI’s field research on agrarian reform in the Russian Far East in October 1999, this report includes an overview of the current status and background of agrarian reforms in the Russian Far East, a discussion of the issues and impediments directly related to these reforms, and descriptions of a number of the economic and institutional issues that affect the success of the private farming sector.

#110

Women and Land Tenure in China:
A Study of Women’s Land Rights in Dongfang County, Hainan Province
Jennifer Duncan and Li Ping
April 2001

This report discusses women’s rights to land in China, based on field research conducted in January 2000 in Dongfang City of Hainan Province. Granting women in China legal rights to land is unlikely to translate into sustained access and control over land resources unless and until these rights are both socially recognized and adequately enforced.

#109

Land Reform in Mongolia: Observations and Recommendations
Timothy M. Hanstad and Jennifer Duncan
April 2001

The Government of Mongolia regards reforming land law and policy for all categories of land as a major development priority in order to create incentives for socially equitable and environmentally sustainable economic growth. This report is the result of the authors’ short-term assistance to Mongolia’s Working Group on Land Reform in June 1999 under contract to the World Bank.

#108

Land Reform: A Revised Agenda for the 21st Century
Roy L. Prosterman and Timothy M. Hanstad
July 2000

This report explores how best to implement effective land reform, based on past experience in less-developed and transitional economies. The authors discuss the potential benefits of land reform, factors that make it possible, why it is often neglected, lessons from the 20th Century, and the role of foreign donors, concluding with a proposed agenda for successful land reform in the 21st Century.

#107

Land Market Development in Rural Romania
Roy L. Prosterman and Jennifer Duncan
May 2000

An overview of the legal framework for rural land markets in Romania. The authors discuss and make recommendations on the development of sales and lease markets, transaction costs, potential effects of a new land tax on market transactions, the need for a mortgage market and for legal aid and contract enforcement, and issues raised by IAS (state farm land) privatization.

#106

Agricultural Land Reform and Farm Reorganization in Tajikistan
Jennifer Duncan
May 2000

This report is based on information collected in Tajikistan in 1998. In contribution to a World Bank Institutional Building and Technical Assistance Project, the author surveyed legal impediments to development of an agricultural land market in Tajikistan. The author outlines the legal chronology for land reform in Tajikistan, offers a comparison of the four different types of “restructured” agricultural enterprises, and discusses each of the legal issues that prevent Tajikistan from realizing the benefits of wide scale land reform.

#105

Implementation of 30-Year Land Use Rights for Farmers Under China's 1998 Land Management Law:
An Analysis and Recommendations Based on a 17-Province Survey
Roy L. Prosterman, Brian Schwarzwalder, and Ye Jianping
March 2000

This report analyzes the results of a 17-province, 1,700 household sample survey, carried out in cooperation with Renmin University in 1999, which examines the current status of implementation of farmers' 30-year land use rights, as provided in the 1998 Land Management Law. The report also contains recommendations for further strengthening farmers' tenure security, and extending implementation of the 1998 law.

#104

Mortgage in the Bulgarian Agricultural Sector
Renée Giovarelli
March 2000

This report examines mortgage lending in Bulgaria and is based on background desk research, an analysis of the relevant Bulgarian laws, and field research (Rapid Rural Appraisal) conducted in March 1999. The report discusses the impediments and presents recommendations to help facilitate mortgage lending in the agricultural sector. It includes an overview of the legal and policy framework for mortgages of rural land; the obstacles to mortgage of agricultural land, including restitution of ownership rights, farm organization, land transactions, and registration of rights to immovable property; institutional capacity to handle these obstacles; and analysis and recommendations for increasing mortgage activity.

#103

The Joint Stock Share System in China’s Nanhai County
Roy L. Prosterman and David J. Bledsoe
February 2000

Between 1979 and 1983, China made the dramatic transition from a socialist agriculture dominated by large collective farms to a more market-oriented agriculture dominated by small family farms. This decollectivizing land reform, known as the Household Responsibility System (HRS), improved the standard of living for nearly all of China's farm families. It is in light of this history and framework that the RDI team sought to learn more about China's rural land stock share system experiment. This report describes the experiment's background in light of Nanhai's recent development history, and lays out the details of Nanhai's experiment. It includes analysis and recommendations based on RDI’s fieldwork findings and comparative experience.

#102

Legal Aid Centers in Rural Russia: Helping People Improve their Lives
Leonard Rolfes, Jr. and Gregory Mohrman
February 2000

RDI founded the “Center for Land Reform Support of Vladimir Oblast” (province) in August 1996. In February 1998 RDI established a second such Center in Samara Oblast. The Centers provide legal advice free of charge to rural citizens in the exercise of their legal rights to land, and help resolve legal issues related to the operation of private farms. The Centers have played an important and unique role in the development of Russia's rural economy, and in the practical application of the rule of law, not only in the two provinces in which they are located, but also with impact nationally. This report discusses the organization, objectives, and activities of Vladimir and Samara Centers for Land Reform.

#101

Policy, the Rule of Law, and Rural Land Reform in China
David J. Bledsoe and Roy L. Prosterman
February 2000

This report discusses the most important characteristics of the rule of law and its relationship to policy in a general context. It compares and contrasts two methods of reaching economic, social, and political goals—law and policy—and describes in detail their characteristics, including the strengths and weaknesses of each. The authors discuss law and policy interactions in China, as well as how and why China has moved towards the rule of law. The report concludes with recommendations that might be pursued to further institute the rule of law in China and to create legal results that are more consistent with public desires and central government intent.

#100

A Vision for Agricultural Land Reform in Russia
Roy L. Prosterman, Leonard Rolfes, Jr. and Jennifer Duncan
November 1999

This report indicates that a significant transformation of Russia’s agricultural sector is realistic and potentially achievable over the period between now and the year 2010. The authors include international evidence showing that the peasant farm enterprise (PFE) is the most highly efficient and productive type of agricultural producer, a truth that has recently been forgotten or ignored by many Russian experts. The report outlines a realistic vision for the creation of substantial numbers of PFE’s over the next decade. The authors indicate the needed changes in Russian law, and the approximate scale and application of the financing that will be needed. Finally, the authors provide a brief list of criteria for restructuring of collective farms into corporate farms to make that restructuring meaningful.

#99

#98

Rural Land Reform in China and the 1998 Land Management Law
Roy L. Prosterman, Timothy M. Hanstad, Brian Schwarzwalder, and Li Ping
December 1998

This report summarizes the evidence on rural land tenure in China amassed through the authors’ extensive rural field research. It identifies the factors contributing to land tenure insecurity in China, then analyzes the positive features and shortcomings of the new Land Management Law in addressing land tenure insecurity and other rural land problems. It also provides suggestions for both improving and effectively implementing the law. Finally, the report discusses and offers suggestions concerning other rural land-related policy and legal measures outside the current scope of the new law.

#97

Are Smaller Farms Appropriate for Former Soviet Republics?
Timothy M. Hanstad
February 1998

Communist countries, countries in transition to market economies, and even some market economies have paid an enormous price for assuming that large farms are more productive than small or mid-sized farms. This strongly held assumption is a major obstacle to legal, policy, and practical efforts to facilitate farm reorganization in many former Soviet republics. The author discusses the basic arguments for and against the existence of economies of scale in agriculture; international experience and evidence on the relationship between farm size and productivity; the productivity experience of collective farms; the determinants of farm size in a market economy; and concluding recommendations concerning farm reorganization and land market development for former Soviet republics.

#96

Land Reform and Farm Reorganization in the Kyrgyz Republic
Renée Giovarelli
January 1998

Rural land reform and restructuring of collective and state farms have progressed significantly in the Kyrgyz Republic. However, while the legal framework for farm reorganization is well established and largely workable, improvements in several areas of the law are needed to enhance the conditions for development of a viable land market. This report reviews the legal basis for land reform and farm restructuring, and recommends the needed changes to promote land market development. The report is based on analysis of the relevant legislation as well as findings from field research conducted by RDI in the Kyrgyz countryside between 1995 and 1997.