April 2014: As part of the Ethiopia Strategy Support Program (ESSP), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has released a working paper, ‘Efficiency and Productivity Differential Effects of Land Certification Program in Ethiopia.’ The paper analyzes the productivity impacts from a large-scale Ethiopian land certification program in Tigray by comparing the benefits of investments due to more secure tenure, against the benefits of technical efficiency or improvements in resource use.

The paper examines three elements of tenure security related to the “investment effect,” the “market efficiency effect,” and access to credit through collateral. It separates how each of these variables impact land productivity, based on research from the Tigray project. The research indicates that farms without land use certificates are less productive than those with formalized land rights. However, the research also underscores the need to complement certificate programs with measures to improve financial and institutional frameworks.

IFPRI is a member of the CGIAR. ESSP is an initiative to strengthen evidence-based policymaking in Ethiopia in the areas of rural and agricultural development. [Publication: Efficiency and Productivity Differential Effects of Land Certification Program in Ethiopia]