Land Access Modes and Agricultural Productivity in Benin

Christelle Yèba Akpo, Cristina Bianca Pocol (), Maria-Georgeta Moldovan and Denis Acclassato Houensou
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Christelle Yèba Akpo: Finance and Development Financing Research Laboratory (LARFFID), Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC), Cotonou 01 B.P. 4521, Benin
Cristina Bianca Pocol: Department of Animal Production and Food Safety, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Maria-Georgeta Moldovan: Department of Animal Production and Food Safety, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Denis Acclassato Houensou: Finance and Development Financing Research Laboratory (LARFFID), Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC), Cotonou 01 B.P. 4521, Benin

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-20

Abstract: Improving productivity is an important channel for satisfying household food needs through food availability. Increasing the productivity of small-scale farmers is linked to a number of factors, including land access, labor, chemicals, fertilizers and so on. Most farmers resort to expanding their cultivated areas to increase production because of insufficient financial resources available for purchasing inputs during agricultural seasons. This situation, combined with increasing pressure on land, does not favor agricultural production and, by extension, food security. This study therefore assesses the impact of different modes of access to land on agricultural productivity. Regime-switching multinomial regression techniques were used to account for endogeneity bias due to observed and unobserved factors. The results of the study show that access through free loans, tenancy and sharecropping negatively affect agricultural yields. The counterfactual analysis reveals a positive gain estimated at 509.9 kg/ha from land access by landowners. If the lenders were landowners, their gain would be 396.6 kg/ha, whereas the farmers would gain 485.1 kg/ha if they were landowners, and similarly the sharecroppers would gain 389.8 kg/ha if they were landowners. It is clear from these results that improving agricultural yields depends on securing land and requires the establishment of an effective land ownership system. This research impacts land ownership policies, which need to be revised to address customary rights and reduce inequalities in access to secure land. It highlights the way land tenure security drives agricultural advancements and offers actionable recommendations for policy improvements on food security.

Keywords: land access; agricultural productivity; farming; land lenders (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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