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participate in the land-acquisition process? What is the relationship between titling, agricultural
expansion, land utilization, productivity, and credit use?
3. Informal settlement. In addition to formal structured programs aimed at moving
people from urban to rural areas, spontaneous settlement is occurring through informal markets as
indicated by the rapid increase in small- to medium-scale emergent farmers. Land use planners in the
MOL contend that the result is irregular and dispersed settlements that increase private and social costs
in the longer run through inefficient land use, poor resource management, and higher land disputes
from encroachment. The highly aggregated CSO data would not provide sufficient detail on land
market processes or resulting land degradation problems should they exist. A rigorous program of
field study is required to evaluate rates of agrarian expansion, how land is being acquired, what
property rights are being transferred, whether tenures are secure, and how productivity and market
access compare with those people involved under more formal modes of settlement.
4. Productivity and resource management on newly opened lands. The ability to
function in the land market will depend on size and access to capital, thereby influencing the viability
of smaller farms. To the extent that title is increasing access to financial services and farm size is
enhancing access to markets and technology, targeted smallholder assistance would be required to
ensure land access and maintain competitiveness in the marketplace. High rates of land underutilization
and absenteeism on settlement schemes would suggest the need for measures to improve on settler
selection and to increase land utilization through land market reforms and enhanced market access.
Nowhere in the data available is there detailed information on types of agricultural activities, output,
input use or incomes of the settlers, or indicators of land resource conservation. Among priority
questions are the following: How do land use and market access vary among regions and farm-size
categories, and what factors explain the differences? To what extent is land underutilization and
productivity (customary and state areas) caused by land market constraints and inadequate property
rights to land and water versus other factors? What scale-economies exist in Zambian agriculture? Is
the expansion that is occurring from opening new lands resulting in unacceptable levels or risk of
environmental degradation? How are differences in resource access, technology, extension services,
input distribution, commodity marketing, and tenures affecting resource management?
5. Gender. The Zambian constitution or land legislation do not make explicit gender
biases. Nevertheless, there is anecdotal evidence suggesting voluntary or involuntary biases in land
administration under both formal and informal tenures that are affecting women's access to land, title,
land markets, and participation in settlement schemes. In-depth empirical research at all levels of land
administration is needed to assess the scope and depth of the gender problem. Biases may require
either explicit legal provisions ensuring and protecting women's rights, administrative changes in the
current process of formal land allocation and title, or special programs to assist women and minorities
in gaining access to land.