ABSTRACT
This study empirically assessed the effects of land lease
market on crop production in Enugu State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were
to: describe the socio-economic characteristics of crop farmers; identify the
land tenure systems available in the study area; identify and describe the
structure and conducts of land lease market; ascertain factors influencing land
lease market; determine the influence of land lease forms and practices adopted
by farmers on their net farm income; and identify the constraints facing
farmers participation in land lease market. The study was guided by the
following null hypotheses: socio- economic characteristics of crop farmers do
not significantly affect farmers participation in land lease market; and land
lease forms adopted by farmers do not significantly affect their net farm
income. A multistage simple random sampling technique was used in the selection
of the respondents. Data for the study were collected from a sample of 120 crop
farmers whose responses were sought on the type of land tenure systems,
structure and conducts of land lease market and constraints facing them in
participating in land lease market through the use of well structured
questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, logit regression model, multiple regression
model and likert scale rating technique were employed in data analysis. The
study revealed that majority (63.3%) of farmers in the study area fell within
50 years and below which is an active age for farming activities. Educational
attainments of the respondents were mostly secondary and tertiary education.
About 75% of the respondents were married and 74.2% of them were males, while
78.35% had a household size of ten persons and less. The study further showed
that 67.5% of the respondents had communal land tenure system while 68.3%
participated in other forms of land lease market with fixed rental market being
a dominant form of land lease market. Furthermore, logit regression analysis
indicated that farm size, transaction cost and farming experience were found to
have played significant role in influencing farmers ’ participation in land
lease market. Multiple regression result showed that area of land rented, share
of output, cost of input and educational level were significant in determining
the influence of land lease forms and practices on farmers’ net farm income.
High transaction cost, unavailability of land, crop failure, distance of land
from home, fear of family intervention, lack of security, and poor land
improvement were identified as the major constraints faced by crop farmers in
participating in land lease market. The study therefore, recommended that a
good tenancy system be developed to guarantee adequate security of tenure to
the occupants (the person actually cultivating the land). This will no doubt,
contribute to both agricultural development and land resource conservation.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Information
The land of any nation is the most valuable natural
resource. It supports all human activities and it is from it that all other
economic resources are derived (Olusola, 2011) .More still, the economies of
all countries, no matter their status are bound up with the land, for all
countries exist through direct or indirect exploitation of land in one or more
forms. This assertion holds with even more force for Nigeria where at least 70
percent of the working population is dependent upon agriculture for their livelihood
(Famoriyo, 1979).
Land is a fundamental factor of production in the
agricultural sector. It has an essential role to play in increasing as well as
sustaining agricultural production. The extent to which this role is performed
is determined in part by methods of land acquisition and arrangements for the
ownership, control and use of land (Arua and Okorji, 1997).
In developing countries, land can be acquired through
various ways ranging from inheritance, lease and purchase. Inheritance which is
an aspect of customary land tenure syste` m is related to family and is based
on the concept of group ownership of absolute rights in land, with individuals
acquiring usufructuary rights. Customary land rights establish the basis for
access to land resources and the opportunity to use the land for productive
purposes (Famoriyo, 1980). Under this system, each individual member of land
holding family is entitled to a portion of land enough to feed himself and
members of his family. Lease on the other hand means a contract by which one
party lets land, property, etc to another for a specified time.
Arua and Okorji (1997) noted that the most common mode of
land acquisition in eastern Nigeria is through inheritance, followed by leasing
or purchase in some areas and pledging in
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others. Acquisition through gift is less common, and even
less common is acquisition through marriage or borrowing. In a community, the
right to inherit land is the major form of social security. Land acquisition by
inheritance is usually patrilineal, but in rear cases a matrilineal system is
practiced. The amount of land inherited depends on position in the family and
number of wives and brothers. In monogamous families, the eldest son (Okpara)
has a preferential allocation of land and inherits his father’s home as a new
head. Consequently, as population increases, land fragmentation occurs to the
level that in most cases, no longer support a meaningful agricultural
production.
Land becomes scarce under the impact of population growth
and agricultural commercialization. Rights in land are increasingly
individualized along two dimensions, namely the range of rights held and the
extent of autonomy afforded by the landholder in exercising these rights.
Individualization along the first dimension involves the gradual extension of
use rights (for example, the increasing recognition of the rights to plant
trees and to bring other improvements to the land) and the addition of transfer
rights (Jean-Marie, Frederie, Frank & Jean- Philippe, 1999). The right to
rent out or to sell land parcels are seriously circumscribed by the requirement
that land ought to remain within the family or lineage. At first, sales were
sanctioned only among members of the group of common descent or residence,
later to outsiders with approval of the group or its head ,still later without
such consent.( Bruce 1986).
According to John and Marcel (2001), the means of acquiring
access to land are land gifts, fixed rental and sharecropping. Gift fields are
given free of any explicit charges for an indefinite period. Gift lands are
usually provided by relatives, often parents providing land to newly married
children. Although, there is no explicit charge, many tenants contribute labour
to the land owner.
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Fixed rental involves a cash payment paid in advance to the
landlord. The tenant pays for all the inputs, reaps all the benefit and bears
all the risk from his production. The landowner is usually not related to the
tenant, the contract is almost always for only one year or as specified in the
contract arrangement. Share cropping agreements provides a share of the harvest
to the landowner, usually one-half or one-third. The landowner is usually not a
relative to the share tenant. In contracts in which the landowner receives a one-half
share, the landowner often provides a share of the inputs in production and
harvesting, including purchased inputs and harvesting labour, though the term
or terms vary significantly across contracts.
Incidentally, markets are the key economic mechanisms for
efficient resource allocation and economic growth. Under institutional settings
where imperfections exist in markets for credit and insurance, transfers of
land use rights usually take place through the land rental market. For
sustainable land use, it will be desirable for land to be transferred from less
productive to more productive producers. Equalizing the marginal product of
land across producers with different land-labour endowments is essentially for
efficient and equitable land allocation and for productivity growth in
agriculture (Carter and Yao, 1999; 2002; Carter and Olinto, 1998; Deininger,
2003; Deininger and Zegara, 2003; Faruqee and Carey, 1997; Yao, 2003).
The development of land lease market can enhance allocative
efficiency and crop productivity because it will bridge the gap between the
land owner and landless farmers and hence improve land investment or
improvement for better agricultural growth and development. Land lease market
is regarded as an efficient way to bring about efficient resources allocation
(Binswager and Deuninger 1995; Carter, Fletchner, and Olinto 1996). However, in
Enugu State land rental arrangements are generally informal, short term and
between households living in the
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same village and in some cases among friends. Rented lands
are therefore subject to tenure insecurity, which may discourage land
investment and reduce agricultural productivity.