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Linking land tenure security with food security: Unpacking farm households’ perceptions and strategies in the rural uplands of Laos

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  • Keovilignavong, Oulavanh
  • Suhardiman, Diana

Abstract

Land tenure, or access and rights to land, is essential to sustain people’s livelihoods. This paper looks at how farm households perceive land tenure (in)security in relation to food (in)security, and how these perceptions evolve throughout different policy periods in Laos. The paper highlights the centrality of farmers’ strategies in configuring the dynamic relationships between tenure (in)security and food (in)security, by demonstrating how farmers’ perceived and de facto land tenure insecurity shapes their decisions to diversify livelihood options to ensure food security. While the paper’s key findings reveal the close interlinkages between land tenure (in)security and food (in)security, we argue that the first does not automatically result in the latter. In contrast, we show how perceived and de-facto land tenure insecurity pushes farmers to explore alternative strategies and avenues to ensure food supply, through farm and non-farm employment. From a policy perspective, the paper highlights the need to put people’s livelihoods at the center of land governance, thus moving beyond the current positioning of land as merely a means for agricultural production or environmental conservation.

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  • Keovilignavong, Oulavanh & Suhardiman, Diana, 2020. "Linking land tenure security with food security: Unpacking farm households’ perceptions and strategies in the rural uplands of Laos," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:90:y:2020:i:c:s026483771930242x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104260
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Suhardiman, Diana & Keovilignavong, Oulavanh & Kenney-Lazar, Miles, 2019. "The territorial politics of land use planning in Laos," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 346-356.
    2. Saturnino M. Borras & Jennifer C. Franco & Sofía Monsalve Suárez, 2015. "Land and food sovereignty," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 600-617, March.
    3. Daniel Maxwell & Keith Wiebe, 1999. "Land Tenure and Food Security: Exploring Dynamic Linkages," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(4), pages 825-849, October.
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    14. Um, Dan-Bi, 2020. "Configuring land tenure caused by fixed residence according to the societal control system of North Korea: Focus on forestry carbon trading," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    15. Wencong Lu & Kwabena Nyarko Addai & John N. Ng'ombe, 2021. "Impact of improved rice varieties on household food security in Northern Ghana: A doubly robust analysis," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 342-359, March.
    16. Yan, Jinming & Yang, Yumeng & Xia, Fangzhou, 2021. "Subjective land ownership and the endowment effect in land markets: A case study of the farmland “three rights separation” reform in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    17. Bauernschuster, Sonja & Pichler, Melanie & Ingalls, Micah & Thongmanivong, Sithong & Gingrich, Simone, 2022. "Discursive and biophysical dimensions of land sparing policies in Laos: Implications for greenhouse gas emissions and food security," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    18. Walter Dachaga & Walter Timo de Vries, 2022. "Integrating Urban Land Tenure Security in Health Determinants: The Design of Indicators for Measuring Land Tenure Security and Health Relationships in Developing Country Contexts," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-28, March.
    19. Nchanji, Eileen Bogweh & Chagomoka, Takemore & Bellwood-Howard, Imogen & Drescher, Axel & Schareika, Nikolaus & Schlesinger, Johannes, 2023. "Land tenure, food security, gender and urbanization in Northern Ghana," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).

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