Land redistribution, tenure insecurity, and intensity of production: A study of farm households in Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

This study analyzes the effects of the Ethiopian land redistribution policy on perceptions of tenure security and on the use of purchased farm inputs and planting of trees among households in Southern Ethiopia. The policy appears to have caused a positive correlation between farm size and tenure insecurity in some locations, although there is a negative correlation in other sites. It had no negative effect on the probability of use or the intensity of use of purchased farm inputs, or on the probability of planting perennials. Rather, it is resource poverty that appears to undermine intensification and investment in trees.