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Abstract
This study examines how land tenure security and dispute resolution mechanisms affect investment behaviour among landholders in Rwanda. It adopted a qualitative approach combining desk review, 20 Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), and 08 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) involving 96 participants in Bugesera and Gasabo districts. Participants included government officials, bankers, civil society actors, researchers, property valuers, and landholders. Data were thematically analyzed to explore perceptions of land security, effectiveness of dispute resolution, and the relationship between land certification and investment behaviour.
Findings reveal that Rwanda’s land tenure reforms, notably the Land Tenure Regularization Programme (LTRP) and the digitized Land Administration Information System (LAIS), have strengthened ownership security, minimized disputes, and enhanced transparency. Landholders expressed confidence in land rights and reduced fear of expropriation. However, challenges persist, including inadequate compensation during expropriation, frequent changes in land use, undervaluation of land by financial institutions, and low financial literacy. It was further revealed that Abunzi mediation committees have made dispute resolution more accessible and efficient, though enforcement gaps and gender-based inequalities in inheritence persist. While formal land registration improved security, it has not significantly increased access to credit. Banks remain cautious in lending against rural land, citing low market values, small plot sizes, and high default risk. Consequently, only urban or peri-urban landowners meaningfully leverage land titles for loans, while most rural farmers rely on savings or informal credit. Investment from land-secured loans is rare and typically directed toward small-scale agriculture, housing, education, or retail businesses.
Land reform has achieved notable gains in tenure security and institutional efficiency but has not fully translated into inclusive investment. Bridging this gap requires aligning land and financial systems through improved valuation methods, risk-sharing schemes, and targeted financial literacy programs. The study recommends enhancing land-based financial inclusion, promoting productive land investment, strengthening valuation and documentation systems, and embedding financial literacy within community and cooperative frameworks to ensure that secure tenure meaningfully drives economic transformation in Rwanda.
Publication details
- Authors / creators
- Shyaka Mugabe M. Aggée
- Publisher / producer
- LAND-at-scale Rwanda
- Publication date
- October 24, 2025
- Resource type
- Final country research report
- Language
- English
- Extent
- 77 pages
- Geographic focus
- Rwanda
- Source note
- The report’s title page is dated October 24, 2025. The Land Portal catalogue lists January 2026.
Program: LAND-at-scale.
Related projects: LAND-at-scale Rwanda: Research on tenure security and landholder investment.
Land Portal source record. Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0.