Is There a Merit to the Continuum Tenure Approach? A Case of Demand for Land Rights Formulation in Rural Mozambique

Despite the general consensus on the need for land reforms to boost agricultural development, the lack of blueprint on required actions to safeguard land rights forces many countries to pilot various policy measures with mixed results. Using the TIA (Trabalho de Inquérito Agrícola) 2008 household and parcel level data from Mozambique, this study shows how demand for formalization of individual land rights depends on the source and type of tenure security risks. Empirical results reveal that demand for individual titles (DUAT) is higher among households where tenure insecurity is associated with private/idiosyncratic tenure risks and lower among those with higher collective tenure risks (such as eviction by the government).