SECURED LAND RIGHTS, HOUSEHOLD WELFARE AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY: EVIDENCE FROM RURAL PAKISTAN

Land has a strategic position in rural areas because of its multidimensional roles but its distribution is unequal. This article evaluates the impact of secured property rights on per head expenditures, crop and livestock productivity, and poverty status of rural households. Information was collected from 341 rural households of Punjab Province of Pakistan. The study proceeds in two steps. At first, the linear probability model was employed to find the factors of tenancy arrangements. The results show that mostly the males were owner of the land, more educated and having more physical assets but fixed-rent farmers were mostly female, less educated and having fewer assets. Second, the study uses the predicted linear probability as instrument in the second stage. The results however show that secured property rights tend to enhance per head expenditures and farm productivity and reduce the household poverty. Other results show that education and ownership of farm land have positive and significant impact on per head expenditures whereas, farm productivity have negative and significant impact on poverty level. Policy makers should focus to improve the access to land, which is critical to improve welfare and reduce poverty. In recognition of this finding, we suggest that there is need to revisit the issue of land tenure security and access to credit by formulating and implementing land reforms in Pakistan.