Land rights issues in Africa: the contribution of agrarian systems research in Burkina Faso

Sébastien Bainville ()
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Sébastien Bainville: UMR MOISA - Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - Montpellier SupAgro - Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques - CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier, Montpellier SupAgro - Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques

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Abstract: The standard approach to land issues is to consider that private property rights are more efficient because they encourage investment. Therefore, it is imperative to institute modern land rights to meet agricultural challenges in sub-Saharan Africa. Other authors stress the importance of the social role of customary law in farming communities. Establishing modern property rights would have exclusive discriminatory effects, especially on the poorest. This contribution attempts to clarify the links between land rights, technological change and social disparity using the agrarian system approach. Both the above-mentioned theories are put to the test here. The emergence of private property appears to be not the cause but the consequence of technical changes that arose as a specific result of the maintenance of customary rights. However, these same customary rights also paved the way for growing social disparity within farming communities.

Keywords: land rights; agrarian systems; cotton production; social disparity; africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in Journal of Peasant Studies, 2016, 44 (online first), pp.1-25. ⟨10.1080/03066150.2016.1170010⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01412070

DOI: 10.1080/03066150.2016.1170010

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