Land,Trees, and Women: Evolution of Land Tenure Institutions in Western Ghana and Sumatra
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Research Report 121
Land,Trees, and Women
Evolution of Land Tenure Institutions in Western Ghana and Sumatra
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by Agnes R. Quisumbing and Keijiro Otsuka with S. Suyanto, J. B. Aidoo, and E. Payongayong
2001
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ABOUT THIS REPORT
How do women’s land rights change as customary tenure systems give way to individualized land tenure? While the individualization of land rights creates incentives for poor farmers in marginal areas to adopt agroforestry, not much is known about its impact on women’s land rights. Land,Trees, and Women examines the evolution of customary land tenure institutions in areas of Western Ghana and Western Sumatra where traditional matrilineal inheritance systems have been changing. In these two areas, the authors find that individualization of land tenure has contributed to both increased gender equity and greater efficiency in agroforestry management. While property rights institutions are moving toward providing proper incentives for efficient natural resource management, the authors conclude that any program or legal framework that assigns rights to resources must be evaluated for barriers to women’s participation.

This book will be of interest to professionals involved in natural resource management, agroforestry, gender and development, food policy, rural development, and property law/property rights.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Agnes R. Quisumbing is a senior research fellow in IFPRI's Food Consumption and Nutrition Division and a visiting researcher at the Tufts University School of Nutrition Science and Policy.

Keijiro Otsuka, formerly a professor of economics at the Tokyo Metropolitan University, is a professorial fellow at the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development,Tokyo. He was a visiting research fellow at IFPRI at the time of the study.

S. Suyanto is a postdoctoral fellow at the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) Southeast Asian Regional Research Programme, based in Bogor, Indonesia.

J. B. Aidoo, formerly a research fellow at the Institute of Land Management and Development, University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, is a Member of Parliament in Ghana representing the Western Region.

Ellen Payongayong is a research analyst in IFPRI's Food Consumption and Nutrition Division.

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Abstract
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 Full Report
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  • Table of Contents, Tables, Figures, Foreword, Acknowledgements, and Summary
    (PDF 384K)

  • Chapter 1: Issues and Motivation for Policy Analysis
    (PDF 328K)

  • Chapter 2: Intensification and Land Tenure: Theory and Hypotheses
    (PDF 615K)

  • Chapter 3: Survey Areas and Sampling Strategies
    (PDF 525K)

  • Chapter 4: Population Pressure, Land Tenure, and Land Acquisition
    (PDF 360K)

  • Chapter 5: Efficiency of Land Use
    (PDF 438K)

  • Chapter 6: Land Inheritance and Schooling
    (PDF 384K)

  • Chapter 7: Conclusions and Policy Implications
    (PDF 340K)

  • References
    (PDF 340K)
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