Large-scale land acquisitions exacerbate local farmland inequalities in Tanzania.

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Title: Large-scale land acquisitions exacerbate local farmland inequalities in Tanzania.
Authors: Sullivan, Jonathan A.1,2 jasullivan@arizona.edu, Samii, Cyrus3, Brown, Daniel G.4, Moyo, Francis5, Agrawal, Arun2
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 8/8/2023, Vol. 120 Issue 32, p1-53. 62p.
Subjects: Real property acquisition, Farm size, Valuation of farms, Income inequality, Environmental degradation, Farmers
Geographic Terms: Tanzania
Abstract: Land inequality stalls economic development, entrenches poverty, and is associated with environmental degradation. Yet, rigorous assessments of land-use interventions attend to inequality only rarely. A land inequality lens is especially important to understand how recent large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) affect smallholder and indigenous communities across as much as 100 million hectares around the world. This paper studies inequalities in land assets, specifically landholdings and farm size, to derive insights into the distributional outcomes of LSLAs. Using a household survey covering four pairs of land acquisition and control sites in Tanzania, we use a quasi-experimental design to characterize changes in land inequality and subsequent impacts on well-being. We find convincing evidence that LSLAs in Tanzania lead to both reduced landholdings and greater farmland inequality among smallholders. Households in proximity to LSLAs are associated with 21.1% (P = 0.02) smaller landholdings while evidence, although insignificant, is suggestive that farm sizes are also declining. Aggregate estimates, however, hide that households in the bottom quartiles of farm size suffer the brunt of landlessness and land loss induced by LSLAs that combine to generate greater farmland inequality. Additional analyses find that land inequality is not offset by improvements in other livelihood dimensions, rather farm size decreases among households near LSLAs are associated with no income improvements, lower wealth, increased poverty, and higher food insecurity. The results demonstrate that without explicit consideration of distributional outcomes, land-use policies can systematically reinforce existing inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America is the property of National Academy of Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: Large-scale land acquisitions exacerbate local farmland inequalities in Tanzania.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Sullivan%2C+Jonathan+A%2E%22">Sullivan, Jonathan A.</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo><i> jasullivan@arizona.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Samii%2C+Cyrus%22">Samii, Cyrus</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Brown%2C+Daniel+G%2E%22">Brown, Daniel G.</searchLink><relatesTo>4</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Moyo%2C+Francis%22">Moyo, Francis</searchLink><relatesTo>5</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Agrawal%2C+Arun%22">Agrawal, Arun</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Real+property+acquisition%22">Real property acquisition</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Farm+size%22">Farm size</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Valuation+of+farms%22">Valuation of farms</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Income+inequality%22">Income inequality</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Environmental+degradation%22">Environmental degradation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Farmers%22">Farmers</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Tanzania%22">Tanzania</searchLink>
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  Label: Abstract
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  Data: Land inequality stalls economic development, entrenches poverty, and is associated with environmental degradation. Yet, rigorous assessments of land-use interventions attend to inequality only rarely. A land inequality lens is especially important to understand how recent large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) affect smallholder and indigenous communities across as much as 100 million hectares around the world. This paper studies inequalities in land assets, specifically landholdings and farm size, to derive insights into the distributional outcomes of LSLAs. Using a household survey covering four pairs of land acquisition and control sites in Tanzania, we use a quasi-experimental design to characterize changes in land inequality and subsequent impacts on well-being. We find convincing evidence that LSLAs in Tanzania lead to both reduced landholdings and greater farmland inequality among smallholders. Households in proximity to LSLAs are associated with 21.1% (P = 0.02) smaller landholdings while evidence, although insignificant, is suggestive that farm sizes are also declining. Aggregate estimates, however, hide that households in the bottom quartiles of farm size suffer the brunt of landlessness and land loss induced by LSLAs that combine to generate greater farmland inequality. Additional analyses find that land inequality is not offset by improvements in other livelihood dimensions, rather farm size decreases among households near LSLAs are associated with no income improvements, lower wealth, increased poverty, and higher food insecurity. The results demonstrate that without explicit consideration of distributional outcomes, land-use policies can systematically reinforce existing inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America is the property of National Academy of Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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RecordInfo BibRecord:
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1073/pnas.2207398120
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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      Pagination:
        PageCount: 62
        StartPage: 1
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Real property acquisition
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Farm size
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Valuation of farms
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Income inequality
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Environmental degradation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Farmers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Tanzania
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Large-scale land acquisitions exacerbate local farmland inequalities in Tanzania.
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            NameFull: Sullivan, Jonathan A.
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            NameFull: Samii, Cyrus
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            NameFull: Brown, Daniel G.
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            NameFull: Moyo, Francis
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            NameFull: Agrawal, Arun
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            – D: 08
              M: 08
              Text: 8/8/2023
              Type: published
              Y: 2023
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              Value: 120
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              Value: 32
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