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Coping with Drought by Adjusting Land Tenancy Contracts: A Model and Evidence from Rural Morocco

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  • Kusunose, Yoko
  • Lybbert, Travis J.

Abstract

We explore vulnerability to drought in Morocco by analyzing household coping responses to a severe drought. We find that nearly 25% of households increased or decreased their cultivated land via short-term land tenancy arrangements. We use this pattern to motivate a model in which drought shocks induce the reallocation within communities of usufruct rights to land. We show how different liquidity constraints can lead some households to invest in crop production as others divest. Empirical analysis finds some support for the model but also highlights how pre-existing tenancy arrangements strongly determine a household’s reliance on land tenancy markets for coping.

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  • Kusunose, Yoko & Lybbert, Travis J., 2014. "Coping with Drought by Adjusting Land Tenancy Contracts: A Model and Evidence from Rural Morocco," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 114-126.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:61:y:2014:i:c:p:114-126
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.04.006
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    2. Sarah E. Tione & Stein T. Holden, 2021. "Can rainfall shocks enhance access to rented land? Evidence from Malawi," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 52(6), pages 1013-1028, November.
    3. Shaikh M. S. U. Eskander & Edward B. Barbier, 2023. "Adaptation to Natural Disasters through the Agricultural Land Rental Market: Evidence from Bangladesh," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 99(1), pages 141-160.
    4. Benabderrazik, K. & Kopainsky, B. & Tazi, L. & Joerin, J. & Six, J., 2021. "Agricultural intensification can no longer ignore water conservation – A systemic modelling approach to the case of tomato producers in Morocco," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    5. Gwendoline Promsopha, 2018. "Risk†Coping, Land Tenure And Land Markets: An Overview Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 176-193, February.
    6. Sarah Ephrida Tione, 2020. "Agricultural Resources and Trade Strategies: Response to Falling Land-to-Labor Ratios in Malawi," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-32, December.
    7. Eva O. Arceo-Gómez & Danae Hernández-Cortés & Alejandro López-Feldman, 2020. "Droughts and rural households’ wellbeing: evidence from Mexico," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 1197-1212, October.

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