Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan still undergo the process of establishing a land legislative system, implementing agricultural reforms that aim at increasing land productivity. The effectiveness of these reforms is often dependent on the level of law enforcement that varies in accordance with whether political elites in these countries have an interest in enacting certain reforms. As a result, legal land rights and farmers' perceptions of land rights may contradict each other and may create an uncertain and insecure environment for the farmers. Based on the findings of a farm-level survey conducted in 2019 in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, this policy brief claims that legal rights and farmers' actual farming practices do not coincide in many cases. Deviations appear in both directions: 1) farmers engage in activities which they are not allowed to be, and 2) farmers do not use all the opportunities provided by the national land legislation. These deviations indicate the ineffectiveness not only of land policies but of administrative monitoring and law enforcement mechanisms, too. Policy makers are recommended reconsidering the legal restrictions of land use in how far they are necessary to reach policy objectives. Furthermore, governments should reform the judicial system in particular enabling farmers and land users to appeal to courts for dispute resolutions in an effective, transparent, and fair manner. Finally, international donors should support future research on land rights and tenure security to improve policy design.
This paper aims to explore the association between discrepancies in land rights and actual practices on the one hand and farmers' intentions to increase agricultural production on the other hand. We use farm-level data collected during a survey conducted in 2019 in southern Kazakhstan and eastern Uzbekistan and compare perceptions with land legislations of both countries. Comparative analysis of tenure conditions revealed that Kazakh farmers are less restricted in land use than Uzbek farmers. Moreover, insufficient law enforcement allows Kazakh farmers to violate existing restrictions on land transferability. Uzbek farmers tend to underuse their rights in such crucial issues as income generating and withdrawal of products from the land; the reason lies in inconsistency between land code and supplementary decrees for strategic crops. Our empirical findings show that mismatches between land rights on paper and perceived land rights − that might be the violation of law restrictions or incomplete use of land rights − generally reduces farmers' willingness to increase production.
Казахстан и Узбекистан все еще находятся в процессе формирования системы земельного законодательства и проводят аграрные реформы, направленные на повышение продуктивности сельскохозяйственных земель. Успех реформ в этих странах часто зависит от эффективности системы обеспечения исполнения законов, которая варьируется в зависимости от того, заинтересованы ли политические элиты в проведении этих реформ. Как результат, юридические права на землю и восприятие фермерами этих прав могут противоречить друг другу, создавая неопределённую незащищенную инвестиционную среду. Используя результаты опроса фермерских хозяйств, проведенного в 2019 году в Казахстане и Узбекистане, мы утверждаем, что юридические права и существующие практики землепользования на самом деле не всегда совпадают. Несовпадения могут возникать в двух направлениях: 1) фермеры могут нарушать определенные нормы, предусмотренные действующим земельным законодательством; 2) фермеры могут быть ограничены в полной реализации формальных земельных прав. Эти несовпадения указывают на неэффективность не только земельной политики, но и механизмов административного мониторинга и исполнения законов. Политикам и разработчикам законопроектов рекомендуется пересмотреть правовые ограничения землепользования с учётом их необходимости для достижения целей политики. Кроме того, органам государственного управления в Казахстане и Узбекистане в первую очередь следует реформировать судебную систему: в частности, фермерам и землепользователям должна быть предоставлена возможность решать судебные споры эффективным, прозрачным и справедливым образом. В заключение необходимо отметить особое значение международных доноров в оказании поддержки для проведения будущих исследований по земельным правам и гарантиям владения и пользования для улучшения разработки политики. ; Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan still undergo the process of establishing a land legislative system, implementing agricultural reforms that aim at increasing land productivity. The effectiveness of these reforms is often dependent on the level of law enforcement that varies in accordance with whether political elites in these countries have an interest in enacting certain reforms. As a result, legal land rights and farmers' perceptions of land rights may contradict each other and may create an uncertain and insecure environment for the farmers. Based on the findings of a farm-level survey conducted in 2019 in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, this policy brief claims that legal rights and farmers' actual farming practices do not coincide in many cases. Deviations appear in both directions: 1) farmers engage in activities which they are not allowed to be, and 2) farmers do not use all the opportunities provided by the national land legislation. These deviations indicate the ineffectiveness not only of land policies but of administrative monitoring and law enforcement mechanisms, too. Policy makers are recommended reconsidering the legal restrictions of land use in how far they are necessary to reach policy objectives. Furthermore, governments should reform the judicial system in particular enabling farmers and land users to appeal to courts for dispute resolutions in an effective, transparent, and fair manner. Finally, international donors should support future research on land rights and tenure security to improve policy design.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan still undergo the process of establishing a land legislative system, implementing agricultural reforms that aim at increasing land productivity. The effectiveness of these reforms is often dependent on the level of law enforcement that varies in accordance with whether political elites in these countries have an interest in enacting certain reforms. As a result, legal land rights and farmers' perceptions of land rights may contradict each other and may create an uncertain and insecure environment for the farmers. Based on the findings of a farm-level survey conducted in 2019 in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, this policy brief claims that legal rights and farmers' actual farming practices do not coincide in many cases. Deviations appear in both directions: 1) farmers engage in activities which they are not allowed to be, and 2) farmers do not use all the opportunities provided by the national land legislation. These deviations indicate the ineffectiveness not only of land policies but of administrative monitoring and law enforcement mechanisms, too. Policy makers are recommended reconsidering the legal restrictions of land use in how far they are necessary to reach policy objectives. Furthermore, governments should reform the judicial system in particular enabling farmers and land users to appeal to courts for dispute resolutions in an effective, transparent, and fair manner. Finally, international donors should support future research on land rights and tenure security to improve policy design.
