Property regimes in transition : land reform, food security and economic development : a case study in the Kyrgyz Republic

Many former communist republics strive to adopt a market economy in which the privatisation of landed property is a key element. Generally, it is expected that by doing so, economic development will take off, improving food security and decreasing rural poverty. The relationship between changing land regulations, economic development and poverty is complex and yet little understood. stagnation by means of land reform. With land reform, governments in transitional economies expect to achieve economic growth and thus alleviation of rural poverty. Nowadays, there is ample research to prove that, to be effective, land policy reforms need to be complemented with institutional reforms, and rural development activities. This book increases the awareness of links between land reform, food security and economic development. macro-economic indicators are applied in a systematic way to give insight to concepts such as land tenure security and food security and to provide warning signals for less-desired developments as a result of project implementation. Despite being the result of numerous assignments in various Central and Eastern European countries, the book focuses on one country, thus avoiding a mixture of different backgrounds and incompatible data.

List of Figures	p. xiii
List of Tables	p. xv
Preface	p. xvii
Acknowledgement	p. xix
1 Introduction
1.1 Alleviation of (Rural) Poverty
1.1.1 The Conventional Approach	p. 1
1.1.2 Constraints for Success	p. 2
1.1.3 An Idiosyncratic Approach	p. 3
1.2 Land Tenure, Food Security, and Economic Development
1.2.1 Different Origins	p. 5
1.2.2 Ecologically Responsible Stewardship	p. 5
1.3 Land Registration
1.3.1 Land Registration and Land Titling as part of Land Reform	p. 6
1.3.2 Land Registration; Only the Basics	p. 7
1.4 Constraints for a Land Registration Project
1.4.1 Legal Framework for Land Registration	p. 8
1.4.2 Vague Claims and Vague Locations	p. 10
1.5 Limitations of the Research in This Book
1.5.1 Indicators for Monitoring Project Progress	p. 11
1.5.2 Other Limitations	p. 12
1.6 A Model for Assessment of Land Reform Projects
1.6.1 A Field Guide	p. 13
1.6.2 'Snapshots' of a Dynamic Project	p. 13
1.7 Structure of the Book
1.7.1 The Choice for One Case Study	p. 14
1.7.2 A Book in Three Parts	p. 14
2 Definitions and Terminology
2.1 Property
2.1.1 Property, Property Regime, and Property Rights	p. 17
2.1.2 From Communal to Individual Property	p. 18
2.1.3 Social Function of Property	p. 19
2.1.4 Landed Property	p. 20
2.2 Land
2.2.1 Land and Real Property	p. 21
2.2.2 Rights to Land	p. 22
2.2.3 Land Tenure	p. 23
2.2.4 Security of Land Tenure	p. 24
2.2.5 Land Reform	p. 26
2.3 Food
2.3.1 Food Security	p. 27
2.3.2 Access, Availability, and Utilization of Food	p. 29
2.3.3 Food Security and Land Reform	p. 30
2.3.4 Prosperity Focus and Food Security Focus in Land Reform	p. 31
2.4 Non-Evolutionary Change
2.4.1 Institutions	p. 32
2.4.2 Land Registration and Land Titling	p. 32
2.4.3 Land Registration and Land Data	p. 33
3 The Kyrgyz Republic
3.1 Kyrgyzstan
3.1.1 Geography and Demography	p. 35
3.1.2 Importance of Agriculture	p. 37
3.1.3 Economic Trends	p. 39
3.1.4 Food and Agricultural Production	p. 41
3.1.5 Food Security in the Kyrgyz Republic	p. 42
3.1.6 Food Security Policy in the Kyrgyz Republic	p. 43
3.1.7 Rural Living in the Kyrgyz Republic	p. 47
3.1.8 Changes in Rural Living after Independence	p. 48
3.1.9 Real Property in the Kyrgyz Republic	p. 49
3.2 Ownership of Rights to Land Before Independence in Kyrgyzia
3.2.1 Obtaining Use Rights	p. 50
3.2.2 'Inheritable' Use Rights	p. 51
3.2.3 Protection and Registration of Property Rights	p. 53
3.2.4 Registration of Use Rights	p. 54
3.3 Land and Agrarian Reform
3.3.1 The Legal Framework	p. 56
3.3.2 First Phase of Land Reform (1991)	p. 58
3.3.3 Second Phase of Land Reform (1992-1994)	p. 60
3.3.4 Third Phase; Revitalization of Agricultural Restructuring (1994-[right angle bracket])	p. 60
3.3.5 Overall Progress of the Reform	p. 63
3.4 Introducing Ownership of Rights for All Land
3.4.1 Amendment of The Constitution	p. 64
3.4.2 The Land Registration Project	p. 65
3.4.3 Some Specific Land Registration Difficulties	p. 66
4 Land Reform in Countries in Transition
4.1 Farming and Politics
4.1.1 Introduction	p. 69
4.1.2 Politics and Agriculture	p. 70
4.1.3 Centrally Planned Agricultural Production	p. 70
4.1.4 Conditional Privatization	p. 71
4.1.5 Land Reform and Land Tenure Security	p. 73
4.2 Land Reform Expectations
4.2.1 Motives for Land Reform	p. 75
4.2.2 Theoretical Considerations	p. 77
4.2.3 Revitalization of Land Reform	p. 79
4.2.4 Expectations of Change Toward a Market Economy	p. 81
4.3 Land Reform Practice
4.3.1 Who gets the land?	p. 81
4.3.2 Rural Land Reform Activities	p. 83
4.3.3 Agricultural Labor	p. 86
4.3.4 Agricultural Production	p. 87
4.3.5 The Three Elements in (Agricultural) Land Reform	p. 88
4.4 Land Reform in China
4.4.1 From Food Production to Economic Development	p. 89
4.4.2 Family Size Determines Farm Size	p. 91
4.4.3 Rule of Law versus Rule of Policy	p. 91
4.4.4 The Re-Adjustable Land Rights Policy	p. 92
5 Building a Model
5.1 Linking Land Tenure and Food Security
5.1.1 The Food Security Paradigm	p. 95
5.1.2 Extending the Food Security Scheme	p. 96
5.1.3 The Food Security Paradigm Visualized	p. 98
5.2 Institutional Change, Individual Behavior, and Economic Development
5.2.1 Family Farming and Economic Development	p. 100
5.2.2 Land Titling and Economic Development	p. 103
5.2.3 Comparing Prosperity Paradigms	p. 107
5.2.4 Opportunity Sets and Economic Development	p. 109
5.2.5 Economic Development and Food Security	p. 112
5.3 Combining the Prosperity and Food Security Paradigms
5.3.1 One Model	p. 114
5.3.2 Implications of the Combined Model	p. 116
6 Institutional Change
6.1 Implementation of a new Property Regime
6.1.1 Introduction	p. 119
6.1.2 The Kyrgyz Constitution, the Civil Code, and the Land Code	p. 120
6.1.3 Moratorium on 'Ugodia'	p. 121
6.1.4 New Regulations	p. 122
6.1.5 Improving Land Tenure Security	p. 123
6.2 Land Reform in the Kyrgyz Republic
6.2.1 Imitating the 'West'	p. 124
6.2.2 What Motive?	p. 125
6.2.3 Revitalization of Kyrgyz Land Reform	p. 125
6.2.4 Economic Stagnation	p. 126
6.2.5 Land Acquisition	p. 128
6.3 Land Registration in the Kyrgyz Republic
6.3.1 Land Registration and Land Reform	p. 129
6.3.2 Land Market Development	p. 130
6.3.3 Focus on Urban Property?	p. 130
6.3.4 A More Public-Friendly System	p. 131
6.3.5 Current Situation on Land Registration	p. 132
6.3.6 Perspective of the New Land Registration System	p. 134
6.4 Assessment of Change in the Kyrgyz Republic
6.4.1 Indicators for Institutional Change	p. 136
6.4.2 Assessment of Institutional Change	p. 137
7 Opportunity Sets
7.1 Implications of Opportunity Sets
7.1.1 Why Opportunity Sets?	p. 139
7.1.2 Informal Markets	p. 140
7.1.3 Re-emerging Customs	p. 141
7.1.4 Field Observations	p. 143
7.2 Use of Opportunity Sets
7.2.1 Interacting Opportunity Sets	p. 144
7.2.2 Changing Opportunity Sets	p. 146
7.3 Results of Change in Opportunity Sets
7.3.1 Inventory of Change in Opportunity Sets	p. 147
7.3.2 Assessment of Changing Opportunity Sets	p. 149
8 Access to Land
8.1 Issues Concerning Access to Land
8.1.1 Stewardship for Resources	p. 151
8.1.2 Land Titling	p. 152
8.1.3 Land Registration	p. 152
8.2 Assessment of Change in Access to Land
8.2.1 Indicators for Change in Access to Land	p. 153
8.2.2 Seizing the Opportunity	p. 155
8.2.3 Land Market	p. 156
9 Resource Use
9.1 Land as Economic Production Factor
9.1.1 Economic Motives	p. 159
9.1.2 Little Support for Farmers	p. 160
9.2 Assessment of Change in Resource Use
9.2.1 Indicators	p. 160
9.2.2 Statistics about Change in Resource Use	p. 162
10 Agricultural Production
10.1 Dismantlement of Large Scale Farms
10.1.1 More Private Farms than Land; A Compromise	p. 167
10.1.2 Increased Agricultural Employment	p. 167
10.2 Resource Conservation
10.2.1 Increased Awareness	p. 170
10.2.2 Governmental Action	p. 171
10.3 Assessment of Change in (Agricultural) Production
10.3.1 Indicators	p. 172
10.3.2 Improvement of Rural Infrastructure	p. 173
10.3.3 Statistical Data	p. 174
10.3.4 Effects on Rural Living	p. 176
11 Assessment of Change in Income
11.1 Observations and Indicators on Income
11.1.1 Observations	p. 177
11.1.2 Indicators	p. 178
12 Assessment of Economic Development
12.1 The Prosperity Branch of the Model
12.1.1 Indicators and Statistics	p. 181
12.1.2 Poverty Alleviation	p. 183
12.1.3 Economic Perspective	p. 184
13 Change in Consumption and in Nutritional Status
13.1 Sustainable Agricultural Production
13.1.1 New Approach toward Agricultural Production	p. 185
13.1.2 Environmental Issues	p. 186
13.2 Assessment of Consumption and Nutritional Status
13.2.1 Measuring Consumption and Nutritional Status	p. 186
13.2.2 Change in Demand for Specific Food	p. 187
13.2.3 Growth Rate of the Population	p. 189
13.3 Food Policy in the Kyrgyz Republic
13.3.1 Food Policy Strategy	p. 190
13.3.2 Assessment of the Food Security Situation	p. 191
13.3.3 Access, Availability, and Utilization	p. 192
14 The Land and Real Estate Registration Project
14.1 New Land Registration
14.1.1 Contradictory Data and Poor Mapping	p. 195
14.1.2 Renewal of Mapping	p. 196
14.2 Implementation of New Registration
14.2.1 New Offices	p. 196
14.2.2 Stagnating Development	p. 198
14.2.3 Not a Specific Element in the Model	p. 201
14.2.4 Perspective of the New Land Registration System	p. 202
15 Implications of Non-Evolutionary Land Reform
15.1 A Wider Approach
15.1.1 Emphasis on Equity	p. 205
15.1.2 Not Only Economic Emphasis	p. 206
15.1.3 Careful Implementation of Reform	p. 207
15.2 The Standard Model
15.2.1 Overall Picture	p. 209
15.2.2 Details of the Standard Model	p. 209
15.2.3 Implications of the Standard Model	p. 211
15.3 Integrity of Land Related Data
15.3.1 Compatibility of Land Related Data	p. 212
15.3.2 A Possible Solution	p. 213
15.4 Neglected Dynamics
15.4.1 Visualization of Dynamics	p. 213
15.4.2 Interdependency of the Two Paradigms	p. 216
15.4.3 A Different Property Regime?	p. 217
16 Conclusions
16.1 Constraints
16.1.1 Personal Constraints	p. 221
16.1.2 General Constraints	p. 221
16.2 The Method
16.2.1 Character of the Method	p. 222
16.2.2 Effectiveness of the Method	p. 222
16.3 Effect of Land Reform
16.3.1 The Time Factor	p. 223
16.3.2 Once Again, a More Socially Oriented Land Tenure Regime?	p. 223
Bibliography	p. 225
Glossary	p. 231
Index	p. 235
Annex A	p. 241

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