This paper examines Ethiopia’s evolving land policy and ongoing legal reforms, highlighting their implications for equity, sustainability, and national cohesion. Historically, Ethiopia’s rist and communal tenure systems created fragmentation, inefficiency, and weak accountability. The 1975 Derg reform ended feudalism but replaced private ownership with state control, a model reaffirmed by the 1995 Constitution. While this framework aimed to ensure equitable access, it entrenched tenure insecurity and politicized land governance under ethnic federalism, fueling conflict and displacement. Recent legal initiatives, particularly the Federal Rural Land Administration and Land Use Proclamation No. 1324/202, seek to modernize land administration and enhance tenure security. However, the absence of a comprehensive national land policy, gender inequality, youth landlessness, and environmental degradation remain major challenges. The paper calls for a flexible, inclusive, and climate-resilient land governance framework that integrates human rights, equity, and sustainability to advance Ethiopia’s agricultural transformation and social stability.

This study examines Ethiopia’s emerging Fit-for-Purpose Land Consolidation as a response to land fragmentation that constrains productivity, mechanization, and rural development. Although Ethiopia’s Land Certification programs have strengthened tenure security by registering over 32 million parcels and advancing women’s land rights, they remain grounded in a distributive justice logic that prioritizes equitable parcellation over productive efficiency. The study examines whether land consolidation can facilitate a shift toward an efficiency-oriented land governance model, supporting economies of scale and promoting agricultural transformation. Drawing on three years of empirical research, it applies a theory of change linking voluntary consolidation to improved farm structure, reduced production costs, and higher productivity. Methodologically, it combines desk review with qualitative data from Focus Group Discussions and Interviews. Findings reveal opportunities, including supportive policy frameworks and government commitment, alongside social constraints. The study concludes that land consolidation in Ethiopia requires context-sensitive approaches, balancing efficiency gains with social legitimacy.

Land is a vital resource for rural livelihoods, particularly for women, who have historically faced marginalization in accessing and controlling land in Ethiopia. This study examines the impact of land registration and certification programs on peri-urban women’s land rights in the Amhara National Regional State. Implemented since 2003, the program includes two stages: basic adjudication with paper-based certificates and advanced geo-referenced certification. Findings reveal that second-level certification enhances women’s land tenure security, decision-making power, and access to credit. Women’s involvement in land management decisions, such as crop selection and agricultural input use, has improved, alongside reduced boundary disputes and increased land investments. However, challenges persist, including cultural biases favoring male landholders, limited participation in public meetings, and unequal access to resources. The study recommends policy interventions to address socio-cultural barriers, improve education, and promote gender equality to ensure sustainable empowerment of women in land rights.

This study analyses how land tenure systems constrain the productivity of women smallholder cocoa farmers in the Suhum Cocoa District. Using a mixed-methods approach, it combines interviews with land officials and leaders of the Asetenapa Co-operative Cocoa Farming and Marketing Union Limited with survey data from 100 women farmers. Findings show that customary tenure, under the authority of the Ofori Panin Stool, dominates land access. Over 90% of women do not own the land they farm and depend largely on sharecropping and tenancy arrangements, with limited inheritance-based access. These conditions create tenure insecurity and restrict women’s ability to invest, expand production, and participate in commercial farming. The study calls for gender-responsive land and agricultural policies, improved access to finance, and targeted institutional support through the Ghana Cocoa Board to strengthen women’s land rights and productivity.

This article examines the complexity of land ownership in rural Albania, focusing on the historical evolution of agrarian reforms, changes in the rural landscape, and the persistent challenges farmers face without formal property titles. Using a multidisciplinary approach that combines social sciences, political economy, history, and cultural heritage, it analyses both the legal framework and local perceptions of land. Based on empirical research in two Albanian villages, the study explores how agrarian reforms have shaped agriculture and rural life, raising a central question: in Albania, owning land does not always mean being its rightful owner—so what does ownership truly mean? To clarify this, the article applies the Roman legal principles of usus, fructus, and abusus to understand “de jure” rights and contrasts them with their “de facto” application in everyday practice, offering insights relevant to Albania’s path toward EU accession.

This study examines the impact of secure housing and tenure security by exploring changes in women’s knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding secure housing, property ownership, and financial decision-making in Kailali and Kanchanpur districts in Nepal. Using a mixed-methods design, the research surveyed 366 respondents, 183 project beneficiaries (Treatment Group) and 183 non-beneficiaries (Control Group). To triangulate the findings key informant interviews and 2 focus group discussions with local officials and community members were also conducted. Findings indicate that project beneficiaries demonstrate substantially higher awareness of secure housing and tenure security, stronger support for joint ownership, and greater recognition of property ownership as a pathway to income generation, financial independence, and increased household decision-making power. Project beneficiary women also show higher rates of property ownership and more consistent involvement in household financial and property-related decisions. The interventions appear to contribute positively to enhancing women’s agency, security, and economic participation.