Resource information
This report examines the question of
land titling in Madagascar, a country where modern and
informal tenure systems coexist and overlap to a significant
extent. The report reviews three main arguments for land
titling and their relevance for Madagascar in order to
provide policy implications and evaluations. The first is
that land titling serves as protection against
expropriation. Second, titles may also facilitate land
transactions. Last, that owning titled land improves access
to formal credit or increases the volume of formal credit
conditional on access. The report concludes that it is not
obvious that expanded land titling, or community-based land
registration, constitutes the best route to attaining
distributional objectives, since wealth is increasing in
landholdings. A cost benefit analysis based on the findings
suggest that it would not be economical to expand the system
of formal titling in rural Madagascar and that the three
main arguments do not justify maintaining this system.
