Property Rights, Agricultural Technology Adoption, and Investment: Experimental Evidence from Mozambique

Andrew Peter Brudevold-Newman, Claire Elise Boxho, Joao H. C. Montalvao Machado, Michael O'Sullivan and Matheus Proenca

No 11421, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Insecure land rights and limited access to modern inputs are often seen as key constraints on smallholder investment in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper studies both in a three-year field experiment with women farmers in Mozambique, cross-randomizing a statutory land registration intervention with a subsidized package of agricultural inputs and climate-smart agriculture training, and eliciting willingness to pay for the package at randomized prices. Demand for registration was high, but its effects were limited: it produced only a temporary gain in perceived tenure security and did not raise willingness to pay for inputs or down-stream investment. Despite gender-targeted titling, it also did not improve women’s intra-household security or decision-making power. The input-and-training package raised input use but reduced harvests, with exploratory evidence of a shift toward a more shock-prone crop; the losses persisted even after households fully reverted to pre-program practices. Consistent with negative social learning, non-recipients with more treated network connections also reduced their adoption of climate-smart practices over time. Relaxing both constraints together produced no effects beyond either intervention alone.

Date: 2026-06-29
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