The Importance of Attaining Security of Land Tenure to Poverty Reduction among Vulnerable Groups in Africa

Abstract

Land is a key component of the wealth of any nation. Throughout history, virtually all civilizations have spent considerable time defining land rights and establishing institutions to administer them. Well-defined, secure, and transferable rights to land are crucial to development efforts and critical to provide incentives for investment and sustainable resource management. In developing countries, most land is used for agricultural production, a mainstay of economic sustenance. The possession of land right also typically ensures a baseline of shelter and food supply and allows people to turn latent assets into live capital through entrepreneurial activity. Once secure in their land rights, rural households invest to increase productivity. Moreover, the use of land as a primary investment vehicle allows households to accumulate and transfer wealth between generations. The ability to use land rights as collateral for credit helps create a stronger investment climate and land rights are thus, at the level of the economy, a pre-condition for the emergence and operation of financial market. This paper thus argues that secure access to land is a pre-condition for higher productivity, economic growth and poverty reduction in Africa and outlines measures for attaining security of tenure for vulnerable groups. It outlined the channels through which secure land rights could bring about economic growth and poverty eradication.

Keywords:  Land tenure, poverty, food security, productivity, Africa