Complete the Incompleteness of Land Reform: Household Level Evidence from West Bengal

Replaced with revised version of paper 06/22/11.
Land reforms were successfully implemented in the state of West Bengal througha special program undertaken in 1978 by the then state government. These reformsbrought large amount of land under permanent and inheritable tenancy. We use asurvey data of nearly 9000 plots from 2000 households in 142 villages in WestBengal to ascertain that both productivity and long-term investments on such landare significantly lower than the land under ownership. We also find evidence forlower levels of input usage on the tenancy plots as compared to those which arefully owned by the cultivator. Programs to allow land reform beneficiaries toacquire full ownership could thus have significant benefits