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We use community and household data with plot-level information to explore the determinants of different forms of land conflicts and the conflicts’ impact on agricultural productivity in Uganda. Tracing rural-rural migration patterns, we find that communities that receive/host more immigrants (and thus have many coexisting tribes) tend to have more land conflicts than those sending migrants out. Unbundling conflicts by type reveals that the number of tribes and being in a ‘receiving’ community are associated with a higher probability of eviction conflicts than ‘sending’ communities and those with fewer tribes. Turning to conflict impact, we find that plots with conflicts have 17% lower yield than those without conflicts. Moreover, breaking down conflicts by type reveals that plots with eviction conflicts have 36% lower yield than those with inheritance conflicts. Our results suggest that rural-rural migration weakens community-specific informal land arrangements and conflict resolution mechanisms, which, in the absence of formal institutions, result in eviction conflicts that, in turn, hurt productivity.
