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With the increasing global demand for chocolate, maintaining optimal cocoa productivity is critical. For the Government of Ghana, unlocking barriers to cocoa productivity could bring significant economic growth opportunities.

Cocoa production is fundamental to Ghana’s economy. Cocoa is Ghana’s chief agricultural export and main cash crop (accounting for more than 9 percent of agricultural GDP), and the cocoa sector employs approximately 800,000 farm families.

Yet, despite significant investments, cocoa production in Ghana does not meet market expectations. Ghana’s cocoa productivity still trails that of other cocoa producing nations, such as Cote d’Ivoire and Indonesia, and as worldwide demand for cocoa increases, Ghana’s cocoa supply is not keeping pace with growing demand.

Why is cocoa production lagging behind, despite massive investment by the private sector as well as by the government? The answer may lie partly with the land tenure insecurity faced by Ghana’s cocoa farmers, many of whom work as sharecroppers on land held by absentee landlords and urban elites.

In April 2015, USAID’s Land Office teamed up with the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) to investigate the relationship between land tenure security among Ghana’s cocoa farmers and overall cocoa productivity. The team’s findings have been memorialized in the tripartite USAID-WCF-Cocobod report: Assessment of Land Tenure-Related Constraints to Cocoa Productivity in Ghana.

The team found a strong correlation between insecure land tenure arrangements and reduced farm productivity, particularly related to ineffective on-farm investments, replanting of old and diseased cocoa trees, and the insufficient understanding of sustainable agroforestry methods. Cocoa farms are often unmapped and farmers lack land documentation. Tenant farmers lack written contractual arrangements with landowners and are hesitant to replant old or diseased cocoa trees for fear that by cutting down the tree they would relinquish their access to the land it stands on.

Given these uncertainties, and in the context of increasing pressures on land in Ghana, farmers do not feel empowered to make on-farm decisions aimed at boosting productivity. That, in turn, has led to declining health in cocoa farms: old and diseased trees are not cut down and replaced; trees are not properly pruned; and fertilizer is misapplied.

For the cocoa industry, which is racing to meet increasing global demand for chocolate, addressing barriers to productivity is critical. For the Government of Ghana, unlocking the productivity puzzle can mean significant economic growth opportunities.

With these motivations factors in mind, the team put forth a series of joint recommendations aimed at better understanding, and addressing, land tenure insecurities affecting Ghana’s cocoa farmers. The recommendations include supporting further household-level research aimed at understanding the land tenure arrangements and tenure-related constraints within Ghana’s cocoa sector; consolidating existing cocoa farm data onto a single, easily accessible and open map; and documenting landowner-tenant contracts through a simple, flexible template, paired with farmer-landowner education on the benefits of documenting tenancy arrangements. These recommendations are expected to incentivize cocoa farmers to invest in productivity-boosting measures as well as sustainable agro-forestry methods, ultimately boosting Ghana’s cocoa productivity while improving rural livelihoods.

USAID, the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, and WCF are already working on the first recommendation – supporting the expansion and completion of a baseline survey aimed at better understanding tenure arrangements and constraints among cocoa farmers. The results of this survey will be publicly available and can further inform future cocoa value chain management decisions.

For USAID’s Land Office, the partnership with WCF and Cocobod presents an exciting new opportunity to collaborate with the private sector to influence responsible agro-forestry practices and productivity gains, while at the same time meeting USAID development objectives related to equitable tenure security, food security, and economic growth.

By M. Mercedes Stickler, Senior Land Governance and Evaluation Advisor in USAID’s Land Tenure and Resource Management Office. This commentary originally appeared on Agrilinks.

There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that stronger land tenure security has a positive impact on important development outcomes, such as improved farming practices, agricultural productivity, and, importantly, women’s empowerment. While the initial evidence is encouraging, notable knowledge gaps remain. Compared with the positive economic and food security gains seen from land tenure formalization programs in Asia and Latin America, results from similar programs in Africa have been mixed. There is also little evidence on the impact of strengthening customary tenure and very little evidence that is gender-disaggregated, let alone gender-sensitive.

In this context, USAID is conducting eight rigorous impact evaluations of programs—primarily in customary land tenure settings—in Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, Tanzania and Zambia to test development questions relevant to empowering women, enhancing food security, and eliminating extreme poverty. These evaluations are using gender-sensitive methods to better understand how these programs may affect women and men differently.

To learn more about USAID’s land tenure impact evaluations, visit the Evidence Hub >>

By Yuliya Neyman, Land Tenure, Land Governance and Legal Advisor in USAID’s Land Tenure and Resource Management Office. This commentary originally appeared on Agrilinks.

More than 400 million women around the world work as farmers. And yet, most of these women do not own the land they are farming. In fact, many do not even know that they are allowed to claim ownership over this invaluable asset. Women are estimated to comprise 43 percent of the agricultural labor force in developing countries, but own less than 10 percent of the land.

Why would that be? For one, in more than half of all countries around the world, laws or customs hinder women’s ownership and access to land. In some countries, discrimination is written into the law; in others, strong and entrenched customs and norms prevent women from claiming ownership over land. The problem is exacerbated by a lack of knowledge about land law and land rights, particularly amongst women in developing countries, who are less likely than men to attend school and attain literacy. Even where land laws purport equality, discriminatory inheritance laws effectively prevent women from inheriting land.

Why do we care? If the man in the family has secure ownership over the household’s land, shouldn’t that be enough to secure a steady income and provide for the children? As it turns out – no.

This past year was filled with numerous moments to celebrate the work being done to address a critical development issue: rights to land and other resources. Secure land rights provide a foundation that helps people lift themselves out of poverty, improve food security, empower women and develop climate smart farming and land management practices. The work of USAID and its partners is becoming even more effective thanks to innovative technologies, community participation, impact evaluations and a growing body of evidence that links land rights to a host of positive outcomes. Throughout 2015, we brought you stories about this important work. Now join us in looking back at some of our favorite moments and the progress we are making.

Tanzanian law gives women the right to own land, but customary systems and a lack of documented land rights have impeded many women’s ability to fully exercise their rights. USAID works in Tanzania to help secure women’s land rights using mobile and GPS technologies to map land borders and issue certificates, helping give women the documentation they need to secure their land rights. Learn about USAID’s Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure (MAST) in Tanzania »

Women play a vital role in global food security. They make up much of the global agricultural labor force and produce a significant amount of the food grown in developing nations. However, globally women tend to own less land than men and their land rights tend to be less secure. But if women had access to the same productive resources, including land, research tells us that crop yields would increase and this would contribute to reducing the number of hungry people globally. Read the Four Things You Should Know About Women’s Land Rights »

Secure land rights for women not only benefit women themselves, but have a strong effect across communities, raising household incomes and improving food security. Women’s land rights most profoundly affect the lives of their children, who are more likely to receive proper nutrition, stay in school longer and receive better healthcare. Get the facts on what a mother’s land rights mean for children »

“With my land certificate I will concentrate on farming and raise tomatoes, tobacco and maise. I also put one parcel in my children’s name to protect them.”
—Arnold Nyamgalima

Meet Arnold, a villager in Ilalasimba, Tanzania where USAID piloted Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure (MAST), focused on mapping and recording land for certification. In addition to being trained on the provisions of Tanzania’s land laws, villagers like Arnold are also trained in how to effectively resolve land disputes and to recognize and respect the rights of others—especially women. Meet some of the other villagers using USAID’s MAST »

In mineral rich countries including Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire, diamonds are crucial to economic growth, but poor governance of these natural resources has all too often led to conflict and exploitation. To address the challenges of the illegal diamond trade and increase legal diamond production, USAID helps Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire improve their legal frameworks for diamond mining while strengthening the property rights of small-scale, artisanal diamond miners—improving their livelihoods and communities. Learn about Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD) »

Climate change will make some lands scarce or unproductive, increasing vulnerabilities for indigenous peoples, women and the poor.

A rapidly changing environment will change the way people use, access and control land and natural resources. For this reason, strengthening land and resource rights is essential to help mitigate and adapt to climate change. Across the developing world, USAID is developing tools and testing new approaches to sustainably increase agricultural production, improve biodiversity conservation, and enhance ecosystem services. In Kenya and Namibia, for example, USAID and USDA are using mobile technology to link farmers, pastoralists, scientists and extension agents with information and tools to improve conservation and resilience through better land-use planning and land management. Learn more about land and climate change »

50% of forests in the developing world have insecure tenure, which is often a key driver of deforestation.

To meet the increasing food security demands of a rapidly growing global population, agricultural land must produce more food, using fewer resources, while at the same time build farmers’ resilience to the impacts of climate change. Climate smart agriculture (CSA) is one of the best ways to help smallholder farmers ensure a more sustainable future, but these practices have not been extensively adopted in part because without secure land rights, farmers lack a key incentive to invest in costly long-term climate-smart practices, since they may never see the return on their investment. Learn more about how land rights impact climate smart agriculture »

In Zambia, sustainable agriculture is critical to food security and in preventing deforestation, but insecure land rights have led to conflicts and made Zambian farmers less likely to invest in climate smart approaches. That’s why USAID is working with communities to map and record boundaries and certify customary land rights in 150 villages using mobile technology. Because the community members participate in mapping their land and agree to boundaries prior receiving a certificate, this project’s approach is also helping to reduce conflicts within the community. Learn more about USAID’s land certification program in Zambia »

“The world’s most significant non-renewable resource is fertile soil.”
—The United Nations

Sustainable land management is key to combating climate change, but for farmers and pastoralists to use their land in a way that is ecologically sustainable, they must first understand the land’s potential. USAID and USDA have partnered to develop a system that collects, monitors, and aggregates information on land and soil properties that is shared globally through two mobile apps and a cloud-based platform that will allow scientists, farmers, pastoralists and extension agents to compare information and practices to better understand and manage different types of land. This platform links local rural communities with global experts to develop sustainable land management solutions. Watch this video featuring Land Potential Knowledge System (LandPKS) »

To continuously improve development projects, USAID uses impact evaluations to test the theories, tools and methods and determine what are the most effective strategies for reducing poverty, hunger and conflict. These rigorous impact evaluations go beyond traditional performance measurement to determine what outcomes are a direct result of the project itself, while strengthening our understanding of how different approaches fit with local contexts and needs. Today, USAID is conducting impact evaluations of land tenure programs in Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia and Zambia. View USAID’s baseline findings »

From a mobile application to secure tenure in Tanzania, to property rights and miracle trees in Zambia, to the passage of the Sustainable Development Goals in New York, land rights remained a critical issue throughout 2015.

As a fundamental issue that underpins economic growth, food security, conflict mitigation and efforts to address climate change, land rights will continue to feature prominently on the global development stage in 2016. Here are the top 5 things to look for in the new year from USAID’s Land Office:

1) REDESIGNED WEBSITE WITH EVALUATION DATA
USAID is currently conducting rigorous impact evaluations of land tenure programs in Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, and Zambia. These evaluations involve large-scale, detailed surveys that are yielding large amounts of valuable data on topics such as agricultural productivity, conflict, natural resource management, and of course, perceptions of tenure security. In 2016, USAID will launch a redesigned Land Tenure website that will make these data sets open, available and free to use for all. Researchers and other interested parties will be able to explore and analyze the data sets – along with data codebooks and survey instruments – building new knowledge and improving learning and decision making in the land sector and beyond.

2) MOOC VERSION 2.0
In 2015, USAID launched the first ever Massive Open Online Course on Land Tenure and Property Rights. The response was overwhelming. Two thousand people from 62 countries signed up to take the course, bringing together valuable knowledge, experiences, insights and perspectives from across the globe. In 2016, USAID will launch an updated version of the MOOC, with revisions to the content and structure based on participant feedback from version 1.0.

3) NEW COUNTRY PROFILES
USAID’s Land Tenure country profiles are one of the most valuable resources for understanding the nuances of various countries’ laws, policies, norms, strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and needs with respect to land and resource governance. In 2016, USAID will begin updating some of our 65 country profiles with new research, information and analysis to reflect current, on the ground realities. The first batch of country profiles to be updated in the first half of 2016 will be: Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kosovo, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia.

4) NEW ISSUE BRIEFS
Why does land tenure matter to energy infrastructure projects? What are the social impacts and concerns related to land tenure projects? In 2016, USAID will release new issue briefs examining these and other issues, adding to our existing library of 20 land tenure-related issue briefs. The first of these new issue briefs, Land Tenure and Energy Infrastructure, will be released in January, with additional issue briefs, including Land Tenure and Social Impacts, planned for later in 2016.

5) NEW RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS
Building on research and analysis from a round of recent land tenure impact evaluations, USAID and its partners will publish new findings examining the empirical evidence around critical topics in the land sector. In 2016, USAID will publish papers looking at issues such as: how land rights relate to conserving resources and preventing deforestation; how gender norms, governance systems and economic incentives affect development projects involving land; and whether land rights act as an effective incentive for smallholder farmers to adopt climate smart agriculture. The first round of research will be available in March at the Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, with additional publications to be released throughout the year.

Land and resource rights had an increasingly important role in 2015 due to growing evidence and recognition that having clear, secure land rights is an essential component of reducing extreme poverty, eliminating hunger and addressing climate change. That is why we are looking back at five reasons land mattered in 2015.

1. Land is included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a target to eradicate poverty, end global hunger and obtain gender equality
   The SDGs define global development priorities through 2030. Now, with a land rights indicator in one of the goals, land is formally recognized as a crucial measure of progress on some of our most pressing development issues.
2. The Girls Count Act of 2015 becomes a law and prioritizes land rights for women and girls
   Signed into law by President Obama in 2015, the Girls Count Act calls for support to programs that help secure land rights for women and girls, helping them to obtain a key asset that can lead to greater control over decision-making and positive outcomes on food security, child nutrition, health and education.
3. Thousands join an open online course on land rights
   In September, USAID launched the first-ever Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on land tenure and property rights. Nearly two thousand participants from over sixty countries— including representatives from donors, governments, civil society, and the private sector—have taken part in the first iteration of the course. This is the first time that a free, shared, global education tool has been developed to help development practitioners and others understand the complex challenges created by insecure land rights–and the evidenced-based global best practices for addressing them.
4. New mobile open-source technologies are deployed by USAID to help communities map and document their rights and analyze their land.
   In many countries, it is prohibitively difficult or expensive for citizens to map and document their land, or to find out what their land can be best used for. New open-source technologies, such as readily available GPS-enabled smartphones and tablets, can help address this problem, and bring the benefits of land mapping and analysis to rural communities. In 2015, we saw a suite of Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure (MAST) launched, in Tanzania, in Kenya and Namibia, and in Zambia. These technologies are opening new doors for transparently and efficiently recording rights, documenting claims, mapping parcels and sharing information and they have the potential to dramatically lower the costs of these services.
5. 2015: A year of good guidance on responsible investment
   In 2015, several organizations issued new guidance designed to reduce risks and increase benefits associated with private sector investments in land. These documents outline best practices related to land tenure due diligence, community consultations, mapping exercises and they provide guidance on how to develop appropriate benefit sharing arrangements. In March, USAID released its Operational Guidelines for Responsible Land-based Investments. The Operational Guidelines provided a strong basis for a tool released in August by the New Alliance on Food Security and Nutrition called the Analytical Framework for Responsible Land-based Agricultural Investments. In June, the Interlaken Group released a guidance tool supporting businesses aiming to respect land and forest rights, and in October, the FAO and OECD followed on with guidance on Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains. Taken together, these documents contribute to an expanding body of best practices for land investments.