Struggles for land and security in Nicaragua: Moulding the slope of the playing fieldRikke Brandt Broegaard defended her Ph.D. thesis at Roskilde University on December 11thRikke Brandt Broegaard successfully defended her thesis about land tenure security and insecurity, land markets and land improvements in Nicaragua at Roskilde University on December 11th. The thesis concludes that the land market leads to concentration of land, from rural small-scale farmers to large-scale farmers, mainly urban- |
| based large-scale landowners. This is contrary to what the neo-liberal proponents of market based land reforms and titling projects argue. Rikke Brandt Broegaard introduces the concept of perceived tenure security, arguing that it is farmers’ perception that ultimately influences their decisions on land improvements and other investments. This conceptual development has implications for development practice in relation to land administration, credit and poverty reduction. During the past decade, neo-liberal policy interventions have argued that land titles are important for tenure security and that tenure security will further land investments, access to credit and higher land prices, thus making land titling a pro-poor policy intervention. The thesis concludes that land titles do not give the same level of tenure security to the rich and the poor, as land titles only give the farmers tenure security if they have other resources necessary for putting the titles into use, or necessary to obtain local recognition of property rights. |
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