Showing papers on "Leasehold estate published in 2013"

Land tenure reform in Asia and Africa : assessing impacts on poverty and natural resource management

Abstract: 1. Land Tenure Reforms, Poverty and Natural Resource Management: Conceptual Framework Stein Holden, Keijiro Otsuka and Klaus Deininger PART I: LAND REDISTRIBUTION REFORMS 2. Land Reforms, Caste Discrimination, and Land Market Performance in Nepal Jeetendra P. Aryal and Stein Holden 3. Does Sharecropping Affect Productivity and Long-term Investment? Evidence from West Bengal's Tenancy Reforms Klaus Deininger, Songqing Jin and Vandana Yadav 4. Would Small Be Beautiful in the South African Land Reform? Henrik Wiig and Henning Oien 5. The Economic Effects of Land Redistribution: The Case of Community-Based Rural Land Development Project in Malawi Franklin Simtowe, Mariapia Mendola, Julius Mangisoni, Hardwick Tchali and Clement Nyirongo PART II: TENURE SECURITY AND TRANSFER RIGHTS ENHANCING REFORMS 6. Welfare Impacts of Land Certification in Tigray, Ethiopia Stein Holden and Hosaena Ghebru 7. Access to Land: Market and Non-market Land Transactions in Rural Vietnam Luu Duc Khai, Thomas Markussen, Simon McCoy and Finn Tarp 8. Land Tenure Reforms, Land Market Participation and the Farm Size Productivity Relationship in Uganda Alex Tatwangire and Stein Holden PART III: FOREST TENURE REFORMS 9. Forest Use Rights and Community Management in Inner Tarai Region of Nepal Nayayan Poudel, Nobuhiko Fuwa and Keijiro Otsuka 10. Tenure and Forest Management in India: Impacts on Equity and Efficiency of Van Panchayats in Uttarakhand Ashokankur Datta and Gunnar Kohlin 11. Tenure Security and Investment Effects of Forest Tenure Reform in China Stein Holden, Yuanyuan Yi, Xuemei Jiang and Jintao Xu 12. Community Forest Management and Tree Planting on Farms in Kakamega, Kenya Maurice Juma Ogada, Wilfred Nyangena and Geophrey Sikei 13. Impact of Land Certification on Tree Growing on Private Plots of Rural Households: Evidence from Ethiopia Alemu Mekonnen, Hosaena Ghebru, Stein Holden and Menale Kassie PART IV: NEW CHALLENGES AND FUTURE OF LAND TENURE REFORM 14. The Rise of Large Farms in Land Abundant Countries: Do They Have a Future? Derek Byerlee and Klaus Deininger 15. Using the Land Governance Assessment Framework to Help Secure Rural Land Rights: Framework and Experience Thus Far Klaus Deininger and Thea Hilhorst 16. Conclusions Stein Holden, Keijiro Otsuka and Klaus Deininger

Land beneficiaries as game farmers: conservation, land reform and the invention of the ‘community game farm’ in KwaZulu-Natal

Abstract: Scholarship on post-apartheid land reform includes research on land claims made to formal protected areas, such as national parks and state game reserves. Little attention has however, been paid to the question of land restitution claims on private lands, on which a range of nominally ‘conservation-friendly’ land-uses (including commercial hunting) have taken place. This article traces the emergence of the ‘community game farm’ as a product of land reform processes affecting freehold land in the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. Two groups of land beneficiaries who were granted title to former privately owned game farms used for leisure hunting are studied in detail. The article shows that a range of state and private actors, as well as traditional authorities, have worked to ensure the continuation of the land under conservation or game farming after transfer. The central argument is that in this process, a generic narrative is imposed which works to conflate or deny the distinct...

Reverse-Share-Tenancy and Marshallian Inefficiency: Landowners’ Bargaining Power and Sharecroppers’ Productivity

Abstract: While there are ample empirical studies that claim the potential disincentive effects of sharecropping arrangements, the existing literature is shallow in explaining why share tenancy contracts are prevalent and diffusing in many developing countries Using a unique tenant-landlord matched dataset from the Tigray region of Ethiopia, we are able to show how the tenants’ strategic response to the varying economic and tenure-security status of the landlords can explain sharecroppers’ productivity differentials To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to use tenant–landlord matched data that accounts for both the supply (landlord) and demand (tenant) side characteristics in analyzing sharecroppers’ level of effort and productivity The study reveals that sharecroppers’ yields are significantly lower on plots leased from landlords who are non-kin, who are female, who have lower income-generating opportunity, and who are tenure insecure than on plots leased from landlords with the opposite characteristics While, on aggregate, the results show no significant efficiency loss on kin-operated sharecropped plots, more decomposed analyses indicate strong evidence of Marshallian inefficiency on kin-operated plots leased from landlords with weaker bargaining power and higher tenure insecurity This study thus shows how failure to control for the heterogeneity of landowners’ characteristics can explain the lack of clarity in the existing empirical literature on the extent of moral hazard problems in sharecropping contracts

Does Sharecropping Affect Long-term Investment? Evidence from West Bengal's Tenancy Reforms

Abstract: In India, land reform has been high on the political agenda since independence in 1947, and early efforts at abolishing intermediaries are widely credited with having brought about significant social benefits. The most prominent type is tenancy reform. As it does not extinguish landlords’ ownership rights, tenants — who may have benefited from rent ceilings and cannot be evicted — still have to pay annual share rent. This weakness of rights may fail to create the incentives for effort supply and long-term investment that have underpinned the success of land reforms elsewhere, effectively adding a dynamic inefficiency to the disincentives created by the Marshallian inefficiency of sharecropping. This could imply that despite the high political price of implementing land reform in India, the schemes so far have failed to reach their productivity and poverty reduction potential.

Factors that Influence the Outcomes of Single Homeless People's Rehousing

Abstract: This paper examines the influences of biographical, behavioural, housing and neighbourhood attributes on housing satisfaction, settledness and tenancy sustainment for 400 single homeless people who were resettled into independent accommodation. It draws on evidence from FOR-HOME, a longitudinal study in London and three provincial English cities of resettlement outcomes over 18 months. There was a high rate of tenancy sustainment: after 15/18 months, 78 per cent of the participants were in their original tenancy, 7 per cent had moved to another tenancy and only 15 per cent no longer had a tenancy. Tenure greatly influenced tenancy sustainment, with moves into private-rented accommodation having the lowest rate of success. Several housing and neighbourhood characteristics had strong associations with the outcomes. The biographical and behavioural attributes that were influential in determining outcomes were being young, frequent family contacts, having been in care as a child and some features of the recen...

Economic Reform in India: Land Reform, Decentralized Governance, and Rural Development in West Bengal

Abstract: Since the late 1970s the West Bengal government has implemented a comprehensive set of reforms of agrarian institutions involving land reform (land redistribution, tenancy registration) and democratic decentralization (devolution of administration of agricultural development programs to elected local governments). We evaluate the effectiveness of these reforms in promoting rural development, utilizing data collected directly from individual farms, local governments and local communities. The evidence shows that programs administered by the local governments were reasonably well-targeted to the poor, with few exceptions. Targeting improved as local elections became more contested, and deteriorated with greater socio-economic inequality. The tenancy registration program, distribution of agricultural minikits, IRDP credit, local road and irrigation programs administered by local governments had significantly positive effects on subsequent growth in farm productivity and incomes. The benefits diffused widely among farms within the village, with a bias in favor of small and marginal farmers, but did not trickle down to landless agricultural workers. Prepared for the Stanford Center for International Development Conference on Challenges of Economic Policy Reform in Asia, May 31–June 3 2006. For research support we are grateful to the MacArthur Foundation Inequality Network and the National Science Foundation (Grant No. SES-0418434). Monica Parra Torrado provided outstanding research assistance; others who also contributed include Poorti Marino, Nobuo Yoshida, Alfredo Cuecuecha, Amaresh Tiwari and Satadru Bhattacharya. We are grateful to various officials of the West Bengal government for giving us access to the data; to Sankar Bhaumik and Sukanta Bhattacharya of the Department of Economics, Calcutta University who led the village survey teams; to Bhaswar Moitra and Biswajeet Chatterjee of the Department of Economics, Jadavpur University who led the teams that collected the farm data; to Indrajit Mallick and Sandip Mitra who helped us us collect other relevant data. For useful discussions and suggestions we thank Debu Bandyopadhyay, Abhijit Banerjee, Partha Chatterjee, Esther Duflo, Andy Foster, Kevin Lang and Kaivan Munshi. Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley Department of Economics, Boston University

Ethnic bias in tenant selection in metropolitan Ibadan private rental housing market

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the presence of ethnic bias in residential tenancy and the relationship between ethnic bias tendency of property managers/landlords and their demographic features.Design/methodology/approach – Data for the study were gathered from administration of questionnaires, designed with items measuring bias tendency and the driving factors on the perceived wave of discrimination on residential tenancy. The structured questionnaires were administered on an intact sample of licensed property managers/agents (practicing Estate Surveyors and Valuers) at annual Mandatory Continuing Professional Development Programme (MCPD) held in metropolitan Ibadan, the largest indigenous city in West Africa and one of the commercial nerve‐centres in the country. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive analysis, chi square and factor analysis.Findings – The study confirmed a significant relationship between the ethnic status of the principal managers (managing directors) wh...

Managing a Tenancy: Young people's pathways into and sustaining independent tenancies from homelessness

Abstract: Due to their disproportionate risk of tenancy non-sustainment there have been concerns raised for young people making a pathway out of homelessness into independent living. Despite these concerns, there has been limited research looking at how young people experience tenancy sustainment or where they move onto after terminating a tenancy. This thesis, drawing on Bourdieu’s (1990a) theory of practice, presents a reconceptualisation of tenancy sustainment as a practice of sustaining a tenancy. The theoretical-empirical analysis is based on data collected through longitudinal research involving two waves of semi- structured interviews with 25 young people, aged 16-25, who had recently made a pathway out of homelessness into their own independent tenancies. The interdependency between a tenant and their tenancy presented young people with pressures which they developed techniques of independent living in response to in order to sustain their tenancy and make it a home. Young people not only had a particular housing position of being a tenant, they held family and education-employment positions which took part in the formation and shaping of the pressures they experienced living independently. Tenancies were not seen as an end in themselves by young people who desired, through the experience of sustaining a tenancy, increasingly independent positions within their other social positions as well. An uneven process of actually existing neoliberalism across policy areas through its influence on young people’s constellation of interdependent relations also created a dissonance within the positions held by young people fostering social suffering. Young people ending a tenancy viewed this as a ‘step backwards’ when it meant decreasing independence such as a return to supported accommodation; ambivalence where it arose from the end of a relationship; and as a move forwards, or ‘getting on with life’, when making a youth transition and housing pathway towards establishing their own family household.

The experience of Mozambique's community land initiative (iTC) in securing land rights and improving community land use: Practice, policy and governance implications

Abstract: iTC is an innovative programme to secure rural communities’ land rights and enable more productive, sustainable and inclusive land use. Mozambique’s 1997 Land Law enables registration of community tenure rights through simple land delimitation processes, as well as private leasehold titling for investors large and small. In a context of rapid growth and weak land governance and administration, private land allocation has dominated, sometimes leading to conflict. Nevertheless iTC has achieved significant results in assisting communities to secure land rights and establish land and natural resource based businesses and partnerships, overcoming misunderstanding amongst state and market actors, and resolving conflicts. Lessons include the needs for more systematic investment in community social preparation, land delimitations in contiguous village clusters, and development of community based land management institutions and legal instruments and practical guidelines to regulate community partnerships with investors and value chain actors. Integrated, incremental approaches to securing rights of communities, producer associations and where necessary individuals, are also required. Institutional issues to be addressed include more decentralised land administration capacity and land governance arrangements engaging customary leaders, farmer organisations, state and private actors, the legal personality of community based organisations, improved territorial planning, and establishment of iTC as an independent national institution working with government to facilitate inclusive land use development.

Filling the capital gap: institutionalizing social finance

Abstract: The Ethical Property Company (EPC) is a UK-and Belgium-based social enterprise that has been a pioneer in developing a series of ‘alternative’ or ‘ethical’ public offerings of share equity to satisfy its own growth capital needs. Set up in 1998, EPC supports innovative and progressive organizations working for social change by providing affordable office and workspace, and fair and transparent property management. Groups in its centres benefit from flexible tenancy terms and office space, and facilities designed to meet their needs. The centres are also managed to minimize energy use, waste, car travel and harmful materials. In 2012, EPC owned fifteen centres in England and Scotland and a further two in Belgium. Further expansion into Europe may include new centres in Amsterdam, Hamburg and Paris.

Unraveling "land grabbing" - Different models of large-scale land acquisition in Southern Africa: LDPI Working Paper 46

Abstract: Since much of the focus on large-scale land acquisitions is predominantly political and ideological, different models and practices embedded in the phenomenon and, by consequence the diverse implications they imply, tend to be overlooked This is supported by the use of the term "land grabbing": while it implies large differences in forms of organization of the production, investment processes and outcomes these land deals might take, the existing body of literature misses the economic and institutional nuances of investment models embedded in "land grabbing" The objective of this paper is to present the diversity of investment models implemented in Southern Africa and to analyze their differentiated implications in the framework of the region's broader agrarian trajectories Based on intensive empirical research in Southern Africa and using a theoretical framework based on institutional economics (focusing on the institutionalized forms of agricultural production, the investment implementation processes and the extent of the implications), the results show that beyond the classical institutionalized forms of agricultural production (independent commercial farming, estate farming) new investment and production models are developing in the region Six models with several sub-models have been identified: independent farmers (independent farmers, delocalized auxiliary farm model, Resource pooling farmers), cooperative, 1,000-day speculative, asset management, contracting (nucleus-estate, reverse tenancy, ingrower schemes) and agribusiness models Besides the lack of inclusive business models, another important commonality of these models is the high failure of the investments - unless strongly integrated structures and value-chains are developed - leading to the establishment of few corporate structures The paper reflects on Southern Africa's agrarian transformations, which, although not broad-based, are mainly characterized by the imposition of a dominant corporate-based paradigm (Resume d'auteur)

Land Tenure System and Agricultural Productivity in a Selected Area of Bangladesh

Abstract: The relative efficiency of farming under tenancy systems in Bangladesh was measured in this study. Thirty cash tenants and 30 share tenants were randomly selected for data collection through field survey method from Narayanpur and Bhabokhali villages under Sadar upazila of Mymensingh district. The functional analysis of the study was based on Boro rice. The land tenancy situation in rural Bangladesh was explored in this study with a reasonable high incidence of owners who cultivate their own land in comparison to owner-cum-tenants and tenants. A number of tenurial arrangements including sharing agreements were also revealed in the study villages. Share tenant farmers earned significantly lower net return (Tk. 19,252.18) than the cash tenant farmers (Tk. 22,815.89) from Boro rice production. However, Boro rice production was profitable from the viewpoint of both tenant operators. Finally, the study tested and confirmed that all the explanatory variables (key production inputs) included in the Cobb- Douglas revenue type production function model were important for explaining the variations in gross returns under both tenancy arrangements. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/pa.v22i1-2.16479 Progress. Agric. 22(1 & 2): 181-192, 2011

Privatisation of Biodiversity: Who Can Sell Ecosystem Services?

Abstract: A payment for ecosystem services (PES) scheme is a mechanism whereby payments are provided in exchange for the management of land to maintain or enhance the health of the ecosystem, thereby providing benefits for the public or specific beneficiaries, e.g. carbon storage or control of water resources. Such payments can take the form of flat-rate subsidies or individually negotiated contracts to ensure that greater effectiveness can be achieved. This mechanism has been used in many parts of the world with varying degrees of success and is now increasingly being considered in the United Kingdom (UK) as one way of conserving biodiversity. There are benefits to this approach, but also challenges that must be faced when applying this mechanism. The main aim of this article is to present some of the challenges to be met if the use of PES is to be expanded. Specifically, this article examines whether the benefits of PES schemes should accrue to the owner or occupier of land, taking into account the endless variety of tenancy agreements and other interests in land, including the particular problems of common land in England and Wales and crofting in Scotland. By analysing the literature on the schemes in operation abroad and the UK examples and how they address these property rights issues it is possible to provide the basis for the design choices to be made if PES schemes are to play a bigger role in UK conservation law. Given the need to secure services over a prolonged period if they are to deliver real benefits, the article argues for the need to devise appropriate legal safeguards that reflect the different ownership and occupation interests, that can guarantee the continuing provision of services despite changes in ownership and occupation, but that are flexible enough to cope with the dynamic nature of both the environment and our demands on it.

Inadequate management of medicines by the older-aged living in a retirement village

Abstract: Background A comparison of the management of medicines by the older-aged living in freehold (fully owned) and rental homes in retirement villages has suggested that the older-aged living in rental, but not freehold, retirement villages may require help to manage their medicines. Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the management of medicines by the older-aged living independently in a leasehold (partly owned) home in retirement village to determine whether they also need help in managing their medicines. Method Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 older-aged residents living in a leasehold retirement village. Main outcome measure The main outcome measure was the perception of present and ongoing adherence. Results Amongst participants in the leasehold retirement village, with an average age of 82.9 years, the perceptions of present and ongoing adherence indicated that only 55 % of older-aged participants were adherent at the time of the study, and not likely to have problems with adherence within the next 6–12 months. Participants from the leasehold retirement village had a good understanding of 58 % of their illnesses. A mean of 9.8 medicines per person were prescribed. Cardiovascular medicines were the most commonly prescribed at 86 %. Conclusion The older-aged living in leasehold retirement villages may require extra assistance/resources to manage their medicines.

Landlords, tenants and agrarian reform: local elites and regime transitions in Avis, Portugal, 1778-2011

Abstract: In a small municipality in the Alentejo region of Portugal, the same group of families, defined by latifundia landownership or tenancy, dominated local political institutions for two centuries during which great changes occurred. Three revolutions resulted in regime transitions: the 1820 Liberal Revolution, the 1910 Republic and the 1926 Dictatorship, which led to Salazar's Estado Novo. Even though a few members of these families offered some resistance to each of these revolutions at an early stage, they all adapted their behaviour and kept local political control within their ranks. Local traditional institutions, such as the local council and mayor, charitable and welfare associations, and corporate institutions created in the 1930s and 1940s to direct economic activities, were all presided over and controlled by members of the same rural elite. This continued until 1974, when the Carnation Revolution and agrarian reform removed and replaced these old elites with new ones. The lords of the land remained lords of the village for as long as control over the main economic resource of the region was the major factor in the maintenance of political power. These land occupations were not permanent. The process was reversed as a result of political factors relating to Portugal's accession to the European Economic Community in 1986. Agrarian elites in Southern Portugal no longer control jobs or the economy and therefore they no longer control local politics as they had for several generations. The Carnation Revolution and agrarian reform removed the old elites and replaced them with new ones. Agriculture is no longer the main economic activity of the countryside. The rural environment has become a hiking ground or an all-terrain vehicles track. The future is elsewhere and the current economic situation and the absence of elites have transformed rural areas into depopulated regions.

Drivers of change in Darwin's hinterland

Abstract: Today Darwin, the capital city of Australia’s Northern Territory, is a tropical modern metropolis of 120,000 people. Darwin’s hinterland displays a complex mixture of rural living; a multi-million dollar horticulture industry; conservation and water catchment protection areas; and Aboriginal lands. However, surprisingly this development did not occur through the traditional pattern of the transformation of rural land from agriculture. Darwin shows a startlingly different picture. Most of the lands in the hinterland, even in the 1950s, were tropical savannas essentially unchanged for thousands of years, except by the Aboriginal traditional owners of the land who hunted and gathered and managed the landscape with fire. The development of Darwin, when mapped using GIS software, shows that counterurbanisation occurred in the 1960s when the savannas were transformed into rural residential lots. Later agriculture grew out of counterurbanisation from the enterprises of residential hobby farmers. This thesis examines why the development of Darwin departs from the traditional model. Part of the explanation lies in the colonial history of Darwin. Historically Darwin was established as an administrative outpost for firstly the South Australian and later the Commonwealth Government rather than being a city that evolved organically. Land sold to speculators in the 1860s was not taken up until the 1960s. Commonwealth experimentation with agriculture continually failed because the environment did not respond to traditional European farming methods. Unlike most tropical savannas in northern Australia, the pastoralists never established a stronghold over Darwin’s hinterland. Finally and significantly, the land in the hinterland was mainly freehold land, while land in the urban area was successively made leasehold through compulsory acquisition by the Commonwealth Government. The implication of this case study of Darwin is that settlement does not have to be premised on agriculture. Access to freehold land and the capacity to commute aided by the Commonwealth’s tight control of land and housing supply were the initial drivers of counterurbanisation in Darwin.

The Consequences of Tenant Eviction in Ilorin, Nigeria: Estate Surveyors and Tenants’ Perspectives

Abstract: This paper examines the consequences of tenant eviction in property management practice with a view to suggesting measures aimed at reducing its incidence. The 16 registered estate surveyors and 114 evicted tenants in the study area were surveyed with a structured questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed using frequency distribution tables and frequencies. The study revealed that the most vulnerable categories of tenants are within the lower income bracket. In spite of the substantial qualitative and quantitative housing problems in Nigeria, the impact of eviction can be severe. Eviction resulted in homelessness for the displaced tenants; it led to enmity, loss of income and time wastage for litigation and also bad reputation for the manager especially where the case was lost. Evictions when inevitable should be undertaken with a degree of concern and care must be taken to avoid waste of resources. The paper observes that it is necessary to create a national database of detailed information on evictions to help determine the scope of the problem, bring national attention to eviction issues, and develop housing policies and programs that might decrease the occurrence and impacts of evictions.

Tenant eviction in property management practice in Ilorin Metropolis, Nigeria

Abstract: This paper examines the causes and methods of tenant eviction in property management practice in Ilorin metropolis, Nigeria with a view to suggesting measures aimed at reducing its incidence. The 16 registered estate surveyors and valuers in the study area were surveyed with a structured questionnaire. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics. The study’s result revealed that rent default which accounted for 57.66% of the reasons for evictions was the most important. The most significant method adopted for evicting tenants was quit notice. This paper provides a basic guideline for policy makers to seek a solution to eviction problems. It also provides an alternative method of eviction which is relatively less expensive and time consuming. Key words: Property management, tenant, tenant eviction, summary possession, premises recovery, tenancy, Ilorin, Nigeria.

A Second Chance for Innovation — Foreign Inspiration for the Revised Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act

Abstract: During the 1960s and 1970s, American residential landlord and tenant law experienced a "revolution" that dramatically transformed the rights of residential tenants The promulgation of the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA) in 1972 marked the revolution’s culmination by recasting the residential lease as contract rather than conveyance, codifying the implied warranty of habitability, and modernizing landlord-tenant law in a number of important ways Despite the fact that many of the changes brought about during the American landlord-tenant revolution had been in place in Europe for decades, if not centuries, the drafting of the URLTA was undertaken with little, if any, comparative research into the residential tenancy laws of foreign jurisdictions, with the result that American landlord-tenant law remains decidedly insular However, the Uniform Law Commission’s recent call for comprehensive revision of the ULRTA represents a second chance for American landlord-tenant law to benefit from comparative exploration This Article seeks to take advantage of this second chance, and to that end looks abroad to European jurisdictions’ treatment of landlord-tenant rights in the residential lease

Tenancy Law Reform Act and Length of Tenancy Discount: Heterogenous Effects in a West German Household Sample

Abstract: Compared to other European countries rental apartments dominate the German housing market. Policymakers and a large part of the population alike worry about the amount of affordable living space. Especially in metropolitan areas a high demand for living space exists and has been leading to a shortage and as a consequence to increasing rents. In 2001 the German government passed the Tenancy Law Reform Act to restrict the growth in rents (at least partially) and to strengthen the tenant's position. Up to now the efficacy of this reform has not been examined on national level. A further point of interest is the identification of a length of tenancy discount. The existing literature confirms such a discount where long-term tenants have to pay a lower real valued rent than short-term tenants. Our empirical analysis exploits data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) that offers the unique advantage of a large and representative sample. We find that the Tenancy Law Reform Act in 2001 appears to have been successful in the restriction of exorbitant rents. Further, we identify a significant duration discount in the first years of a tenancy. This discount is significantly larger in the upper part of the conditional rent distribution.

Privatisation of biodiversity: who can sell ecosystem services?

Abstract: A payment for ecosystem services (PES) scheme is a mechanism whereby payments are provided in exchange for the management of land to maintain or enhance the health of the ecosystem, thereby providing benefits for the public or specific beneficiaries, e.g. carbon storage or control of water resources. Such payments can take the form of flat-rate subsidies or individually negotiated contracts to ensure that greater effectiveness can be achieved. This mechanism has been used in many parts of the world with varying degrees of success and is now increasingly being considered in the United Kingdom (UK) as one way of conserving biodiversity. There are benefits to this approach, but also challenges that must be faced when applying this mechanism. The main aim of this article is to present some of the challenges to be met if the use of PES is to be expanded. Specifically, this article examines whether the benefits of PES schemes should accrue to the owner or occupier of land, taking into account the endless variety of tenancy agreements and other interests in land, including the particular problems of common land in England and Wales and crofting in Scotland. By analysing the literature on the schemes in operation abroad and the UK examples and how they address these property rights issues it is possible to provide the basis for the design choices to be made if PES schemes are to play a bigger role in UK conservation law. Given the need to secure services over a prolonged period if they are to deliver real benefits, the article argues for the need to devise appropriate legal safeguards that reflect the different ownership and occupation interests, that can guarantee the continuing provision of services despite changes in ownership and occupation, but that are flexible enough to cope with the dynamic nature of both the environment and our demands on it.

Effect of tenure security on livelihood activities of women farmers in Anambra state, Nigeria

Abstract: Although customary system of tenure and land allocation continues to afford widespread access to land, there is evidence that landlessness and land inequality are growing among rural women. The study assessed the effect of tenure security on livelihood activities of women farmers in Anambra State, Nigeria. The study area was Anaocha Local Government Area in Anambra State. The L.G.A is made up of the following communities Aguhizigbo, Agulu, Neri, Ichida, Adazkni, Adazi-anu, Adazi-nukwu, Akwaeze, Nri, Obeledy, Umuabu and Obe. The selection of the site was based on the traditional descent pattern affecting land transfers and tenure security; and also the presence of serious farming activities. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed in the selection of the sample size. In the first stage, all the twelve communities were purposively selected. For each community two villages were randomly selected and from each village, five female-headed farming households were selected bringing the total to 120 respondents. Data were generated through the use of Structured Questionnaire, Focus Group Discussion and Participatory Observation. Data collected were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics, means and ranking order. The result of the study shows that major source of acquiring land for cultivation 23% was through pledge, followed by inheritance/gift 22% and the least was 2% through allocation by state government. On livelihood activities the major occupation was farming 48%, followed by weaving /dying of materials 17% and the least was pot making 9%. Factors influencing tenure security of the women in the study area according to ranking shows that limited access to land rank first, while little control over the crop they grow rank second and the least was no guarantee of tenancy on a plot from one cropping season to the other was the least in the ranking order. On perceived effect of non-tenure security on livelihood activities, 17% percent of the respondents stated inability to use land for collateral, 25% complained about fragmentation of land, 23% complained about their inability of planting long duration crops, 20% complained about farming system being difficult to change, while 15% complained about large scale plantation system not been feasible. Based on this premise land tenure problems and tenure security remain unsolved and constrain the efforts of the women farmers in adopting new innovations and investment in agricultural productivity. Therefore, Nigerian government should take equitable land distribution and guarantee ownership rights for the poor and underprivileged, such rural women. Keywords : tenure security, livelihood activities and rural women

Do Sharecroppers Undersupply Effort? Evidence from a Farm Level Survey in Assam Plains

Abstract: Using farm level data from Assam plains in Northeast India generated through a primary survey, this paper revisits the debate dating back to Alfred Marshall which centers on the question whether the sharecroppers undersupply effort in crop production as reflected in their input intensities. Our investigation, however, did not result in a categorical answer to the research question. It has been found that while the sharecroppers undersupply labour input conforming the Marshallian inefficiency hypothesis, tenancy or any of its forms does not have any significant impact on capital intensity. On the other hand, in the case of fertiliser consumption it has been found that the fixed rent tenants tend to apply chemical fertilisers more intensively than even the owner operators. This was not reported in the existing literature which has an adverse implication for the sustainable use of land. The tendency among the fixed rent tenants to apply more chemical fertilisers is outcomes of certain restrictive provisions in the existing tenancy law in the state. Accordingly, the paper suggests reforms in the existing tenancy law in order to overcome these problems and ensure efficient utilisation of land resources.

Landlord and tenant update – hard times, strict compliance

Abstract: Purpose – Difficult economic and trading conditions make lease break options a point of significant legal tension between commercial landlords and tenants. For a tenant, the ability to break a lease provides a means of controlling costs and an exit from liabilities. For landlords, the loss of a tenant's covenant means an immediate adverse effect on the reversionary value of the property. The purpose of this paper is to examine recent English court rulings to highlight the need for strict compliance with break conditions if a tenant is to succeed in ending its liabilities.Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses recent rulings to assess the extent to which judicial interpretation of break clauses continues to favour landlords, and whether landlords' conduct in negotiations or correspondence leading up to the exercise of a tenant's break option might engage concepts such as estoppel to bind the landlord to a particular level of compliance or breach.Findings – The paper concludes that the English co...

Land Accessibilty problems in Nigeria: A case study of Gwagwalada

Abstract: This study examines land accessibility problems in Nigeria, using Gwagwalada, as a case study. Gwagwalada is a satellite town of Abuja, Nigeria federal capital city. There is rapid urbanisation of Gwagwalada since 1991 when the seat of the federal government of Nigeria was relocated to Abuja and establishment of many federal institutions there to decongest the federal capital city. Land administration in Nigeria is regulated by the Land Use Ac twhich nationalized land and its major objective is to make land accessible to all applicants in Nigeria. The study reveals that land accessibility is a challenge in Gwagwalada in terms of high cost and delays. 72% of the respondents accessed land through direct purchase at high prices from private land market, 25% of them got their land by direct government allocation and the remaining 3% of them access it through leasehold transaction. It took 98% respondents between two to ten years to obtain government allocation. This negates one of the objectives of the Land Use Act which is to make availability of land easier to the citizenry. There is bureaucratic delay in the processing of application for allocation of land, issuance of Certificates of Occupancy and registration of properties. Allocation criteria are exclusionary and only a very small proportion of middle to upper income earners have access to land. If Nigeria is to meet the challenges of competing effectively in an increasingly globalizing world, it is thus imperative that it gives very urgent and sustained attention to promoting its land reform program in all its ramifications to address the present challenges to land accessibility.

Measurement of Technical Efficiency under Alternative Institutions of Tenurial Contracts and its Determinants: Evidence from Rural West Bengal, India

Abstract: Technical efficiency is a long debated issue in Indian agriculture. On the efficiency of agrarian institution of tenancy, scholars belonging to the Neo-Classical and Marxian schools participated in the debate and came out with diverse findings in relation to owner cultivation. In contrast to considering the tenants as a homogenous group, this paper attempts to measure the level of technical efficiency under alternative tenurial contracts and its possible determinants in West Bengal agriculture by using Stochastic Frontier Analysis. It is observed that the level of technical efficiency varies under alternative tenurial contract. The sizes of the firm, availability of agricultural credit, security of tenure are some of the important factors influencing the level of technical efficiency in West Bengal agriculture.

De flexibiliteit van het recht van erfpacht

Abstract: Until a few decades ago, the right of leasehold was a popular tool among various governments. That has changed. Of all the municipalities that were accustomed to use this figure, only Amsterdam is now referred to as a ‘real’ leasehold municipality. Nowadays, in particular others have discovered the potential of this right. Investors for example use leasehold as a vehicle for a (tax) attractive form of sale and lease back. Housing companies make use of the right of leasehold in order to enable their target group to acquire a home at a relatively low price. Nature conservation organisations are able to retain influence over the sustainable use of land and to ensure themselves from a more or less constant flow of funds. Governments use the right of leasehold merely in special cases, such as in areas where short term development is needed. In each case, the leasehold conditions are specifically tailored to the function that the legal concept fulfils in the situation concerned. Leasehold is therefore a user right that is established with differing objectives and under widely differing conditions. However, the legal possibilities to regulate the use of land and its financing through leasehold are not unlimited. This thesis maps these boundaries.