Land, trees, and women : evolution of land tenure institutions in Western Ghana and Sumatra

For the sake of comparison, communities with differing land tenure institutions, farming systems, and natural resources were also studied. Individual chapters of the study: (1) characterize the prevailing land tenure institutions; (2) analyze the impacts of population growth and other exogenous factors on land tenure choice and the manner of land acquisition; (3) examine the effects of land tenure institutions on tree-planting and farm management efficiency; (4) explore gender differences in land inheritance and schooling investments; and (4) present conclusions and recommendations. The study found that population pressure is the major factor accounting for the decrease in forest land. Under the communal tenure system, population pressure has led to the privatization of land rights, the clearing of forest areas, and the erosion of traditional land acquisition methods. Since the effort of clearing forests is rewarded by strong individual land rights, reversing the trend of deforestation will not be simple. Also, there is no strong statistical evidence to support popular arguments that customary land tenure in Ghana and Sumatra discourages commercial agroforestry. Indeed, commercial trees have been planted under communal ownership systems as widely and actively as under the private ownership systems. Even where land rights are relatively weak, the expectation of strengthened individual land rights stimulates tree planting. However, once trees are planted, the communal land ownership system is converted de facto to private ownership. Agroforestry systems, whether on privately or on communally owned land, have a positive, indirect effect on equity because agroforestry is more profitable than food crops in marginal areas where poverty levels are high. To improve the efficiency of natural resource management, promote gender equity, and disseminate best agroforestry practices, public policies should harness the profit incentives that underlie institutional change in land ownership systems. Three further issues must be addressed: property rights institutions and policies (especially those that constrain women"s participation); development and dissemination of agroforestry technologies; and market development and other policy issues.