The Effects of Property Rights Security on Agricultural Output in Western Kenya

财产权保障如何影响农业绩效的问题是关于粮食保障政策讨论的一个重要内容。本研究将测试在肯尼亚西部的个体大规模和小农的财产权安全和农业生产力之间的关系。以前的研究发现，小农妇女对某一地块上一次收获的果实的控制程度是她们努力确保下一季同一地块农业高产的关键决定因素。还发现，只有将对地块一级产品的有保证的控制权分配给个别女农民，而不是分配给家庭，作物产量才会更高。统计分析表明，当对农产品的控制权分配给家庭时，产权安全与产量之间的相关性就被隐藏了。这些结果很重要，但我们仍然需要了解这种模式是否纵向存在于小农和大规模农业环境中。这一额外的纵向研究，使用多种定量和定性方法相结合的深入访谈和调查，将进一步测试假设农业生产力的财产权安全在两个显着不同的农业环境位于肯尼亚西部。这项研究将促进我们对小农和大规模农民之间生产力差异的性质和原因的理解，并将进一步评估产权理论在撒哈拉以南非洲不同农业系统中的应用程度。这项研究应该与有兴趣了解和理解产权如何构成经济绩效激励的广大学生和研究人员有关。调查结果还将提供深入了解产量提高投入的利用模式，有益于决策者改善推广服务的提供，以提高肯尼亚的农业生产力。这项研究的广泛影响将对关注提高撒哈拉以南非洲农业生产力的政策制定者和其他社会行为者至关重要。

The question of how security of property rights affects farming performance is an important element of the policy discussion about food security. This study will test the relationship between the property rights security and agricultural productivity of individual large scale and smallholder farmers in western Kenya. Previous research found that the degree to which smallholder women farmers controlled the fruits of the previous harvest on a given plot was a key determinant of their efforts to ensure high agricultural output on the same plot in the next season. Crop yields were also found to be higher only when guaranteed control over plot-level produce was assigned to individual women farmers, not when assigned to households. Statistical analysis revealed that the correlation between property rights security and yields gets hidden when control over produce is assigned to households. These results are important but we still need to understand whether the pattern exists longitudinally in smallholder and large scale farming contexts. This additional longitudinal research, using multiple quantitative and qualitative methods combining in-depth interviews and surveys, will further test hypotheses linking agricultural productivity to property rights security in produce in two significantly different farming settings located in western Kenya. This study will advance our understanding of the nature and causes of productivity differences among smallholder and large scale farmers and will further evaluate the degree to which property rights theory can be applied in diverse farming systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. The research should be of relevance to a wide range of students and researchers interested in knowing and understanding how property rights structure incentives for economic performance. The findings will also provide insight into yield enhancing input utilization patterns, useful to policy makers for improvement of extension service delivery in order to boost agricultural productivity in Kenya. The broader impacts of this study will be important to policy makers and other social actors concerned about enhancing agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa.