This paper establishes that the Caloric Suitability Index (CSI) dominates the commonly used measure of agricultural suitability in the examination of the effect of land productivity on comparative economic development. The analysis demonstrates that the agricultural suitability index does not capture the large variation in the potential caloric yield across equally suitable land, reflecting the fact that land suitable for agriculture is not necessarily suitable for the most caloric-intensive crops.

This study examines the effects of land tenure systems on resource-use productivity and efficiency in the Upper East region of Ghana with data drawn from the Ghana Agricultural Production Survey. A stochastic frontier model is employed to analyse resource-use productivity and efficiency of the rice farms. The study establishes that rice farms under the various land tenure systems are technically inefficient. Technical efficiency for the pooled sample was 61.80%.

The study reviews the land policy in Zimbabwe and investigates the extent to which the policy provides incentives for investment and technology adoption to increase labour productivity in the agricultural sector. The research is based on a desk study of relevant literature and land policies implemented by the Zimbabwe government since 1980. This is complemented by empirical data drawn from various organisations that have been tracking the progress of the land reform programme.