Abstract
Like in many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, Mozambique has most of the population in rural areas, extremely low levels of agricultural productivity, and very limited land rights. Those allocated land in rural areas are required to be present, implying slow urbanization and structural change. Land allocation is mediated by local chiefs appointed by the ruling party, which fears that land titling implies the loss of political control. In this project, we follow the allocation of land titles to a sample of smallholder farmers in rural areas of Nampula province. We are preparing an RCT in collaboration with local authorities. The focus will be on measuring impacts of rural land titling on migration to urban areas and occupational change, as well as on political participation and preferences. In doing so, we will also be able to measure effects on agricultural investment/productivity. We will run a baseline survey of the households of the smallholder farmers in the sample as well as their corresponding migrants, provide capacity to the local authorities on property rights, and repeat the measurements after a year of the titles’ allocation. The project will inform the crucial policy debate on land titling, urbanization, and their political feasibility in SSA.