Land reforms: the impact of land registration on agricultural productivity in Kenya

The thesis aims to establish if land registration translates to tenure security that influences farmers’ uptake of sustainable agriculture using evidence from Kenya. The study was motivated by declining agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa, which increases the population’s vulnerability to food insecurity and poverty. Historically, agricultural productivity has been a driver behind land reforms in Kenya but empirical evidence remains inconclusive. Past studies on this relationship have focused on cost-benefit and yield methodologies, which fail to account for farmers' psychological processes and farms' spatial components culminating in divergent views. To fill this gap, this study incorporates spatial econometrics and behaviour theory techniques. Findings indicated that land registration creates tenure security and motivates farmers to adopt sustainable agriculture. The study adds a crucial knowledge layer in developing effective land policies that would stimulate agricultural productivity in the country.