Publication: Contracts, Land Tenure and Rural Development in Timor-Leste
Loading...
Date
2009-11
ISSN
Published
2009-11
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
As in other societies in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, customary social organization features strongly in rural Timor-Leste. As well as providing avenues for conflict resolution, the influence of customary systems extends to land tenure. As the state, development partners, private investors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and others seek to promote rural development in Timor-Leste, they will be forced to engage in some way with customary ownership and use claims which prevail in the districts. A further dimension of the subsistence nature of the Timor-Leste economy is the fact that the use of contracts in connection with agribusiness transactions is rare. This presents a further challenge to the objective of increasing private sector investment in the rural economy. Based on field visits, this Justice for the Poor (J4P) briefing note looks at the rural economy of Timor-Leste and considers approaches that could help promote productive and equitable relationships between communities and other rural development partners and contribute to mutually beneficial rural development outcomes.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Nixon, Rod. 2009. Contracts, Land Tenure and Rural Development in Timor-Leste. Justice for the Poor Briefing Note; Volume 3, Issue No. 3. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10962 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Mozambique Agricultural Sector Risk Assessment(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-08)Agricultural risk management is a central issue that Mozambique faces in development, and multiple stakeholders have analyzed this challenge, sometimes with different terminology and focusing on varying aspects. The government of Mozambique has adopted the strategic plan for agricultural development (PEDSA 2010-19) that focuses on: (i) increasing the availability of food in order to reduce hunger through growth in small producer productivity and emergency response capacity; (ii) enlarging the land area under sustainable management and the number of reliable water management systems; (iii) increasing access to the market through improved infrastructures and interventions in marketing; and (iv) improving research and extension for increased adoption of appropriate technologies by producers and agro-processors. The World Bank’s agriculture sector risk assessment takes a holistic approach and relies on long time-series historical data to arrive at an empirical and objective assessment of agricultural risks and their impacts on Mozambique. This assessment will form the basis of the second step, solution assessment, whose final findings will inform National Investment Plan for the Agrarian Sector in Mozambique (PNISA). This document considers the many aspects of assessing risk in the Mozambican agriculture sector. Chapter one gives introduction and context. Chapter two introduces the major characteristics of the agricultural system leading into chapter three, which presents a comprehensive picture of the risks that exist in the sector. Chapter four, in quantifying the risks that have been observed, comments on the losses that have been incurred by the sector because of production risks, whereas chapter five provides a qualitative discussion of how risk has an effect on the different stakeholders present in the sector. Chapter six delves into the risk prioritization carried out by the team and then comments on various management measures. The report concludes with chapter six, in which recommendations are provided for improving risk management in Mozambique.Publication Comprehensive Assessment of the Agriculture Sector in Liberia : Volume 2, Sub-sector Reports, Part I(2007-01-01)The overall objective of the Comprehensive Assessment of the Agricultural Sector (CAAS) is to provide an evidence base to enable appropriate strategic policy responses by the Government of Liberia (GoL) and its development partners in order to maximize the contribution of the agriculture sector to the Government's overarching policy objectives. Given the strong relationship between growth in agricultural productivity and poverty reduction, future efforts in Liberia need to focus on productivity enhancing measures with a pro-poor focus that increase incomes. Growth based on extensification using traditional technologies is generally not profitable and has damaging implications for the environment. Given the low level of assets possessed by most Liberians, future efforts need to address the question of access to assets (i.e. land, knowledge and inputs) in addition to providing opportunities and an enabling environment. Liberia needs to make concerted efforts to preserve and consolidate its emerging stability by focusing on interventions to ensure food security and poverty alleviation at the community and household levels. Improving access to food and generating sustainable, remunerative activities and employment are crucial to this process. This report is designed to assist in indicating and specifying the potential role of specified agricultural commodity value chains in achieving the priority objectives of the government by focusing on small holders, traditional farming, and food security and forms an input for the preparation of a strategic orientation framework to achieve sustainable food security, nutrition and agricultural development. This report reviews gender issues in Liberia's agriculture and rural sector with a special focus on rural women and how to improve their participation and contribution to rural development. The report reviews women's roles in agriculture and the rural economy; their access to key inputs and services which are essential to carry out their socio-economic role in rural areas; as well as gender-related social trends and problems that may have an impact on productivity and poverty reduction in rural areas. The assessment also reviews the institutional and policy framework for agriculture and rural development and identifies opportunities to improve the rural sector's capacity to address gender issues and support female farmers and rural entrepreneurs. The findings and recommendations will inform the reform of the sector, currently underway, and thereby support the GoL poverty reduction effort and the implementation of the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (IPRSP).Publication Logistics Development and Trade Facilitation in Lao PDR(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-05)This report is part of a strategy to promotes trade competitiveness within the East Asia and Pacific Region. It presents an overview of the logistics issues facing East Asia countries and proposes a development agenda for them. Based on the recognition that the countries have basic differences in their level of development, extent of openness, and composition of trade, it begins by discussing the benefits of improved logistics. The East Asian countries are organized into an action matrix, with an analysis of the logistics needs appropriate to each group. The country working papers (volumes 2, 3, & 5)discuss the assessment of preset logistics services and the impediments they impose upon, and opportunities they offer for, expanded trade, including policy reform proposals. The special report on ports (volume 4) addresses port development in relation to urban growth.Publication Ecology, History, and Development : A Perspective from Rural Southeast Asia(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2001-10)The process by which different ecological conditions and historical trajectories interacted to create different social and cultural systems resulted in major differences in economic development performance within Southeast Asia. In the late 19th century, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand commonly experienced vent-for-surplus development through exploitation of unused lands. Nevertheless, different agrarian structures were created. Indonesia s development was mainly based on the exploitation of tropical rain forest under Dutch colonialism. It resulted in the bifurcation of the rural sector between rice-farming peasant proprietors and large plantations for tropical export crops based on hired labor. In the Philippines, exploitation of the same resource base under Spanish rule resulted in pervasive landlessness among the rural population. Relatively homogeneous landowning peasants continued to dominate in Thailand, where delta plains that were suitable only for rice production formed the resource base for development. These different agrarian structures associated with different social value systems have accounted for differential development performance across the three economies in the recent three decades.Publication Cote d'Ivoire - The Growth Agenda : Building on Natural Resources and Exports(Washington, DC, 2012-03-20)Cote d'Ivoire was an economic success story in the first twenty years of independence, but a sharp reversal began in 1980 and by 1993 per capita incomes was back to the level of 1960. Devaluation of the African Financial Community (CFA) franc triggered an economic rebound, but this was soon undermined by the political crisis beginning in 1999. Just as the economy was starting to move forward, a new crisis struck in early 2011, with considerable loss of life and assets. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth will be significantly negative in 2011, after 30 years of almost uninterrupted decline in per capita incomes and a rise in poverty from 10 percent in 1985 to 43 percent in 2008. The country is in urgent need of rapid and inclusive growth to reduce poverty, create jobs, provide hope for a better future, and help heal the wounds in the social fabric. The report devotes some attention to two key backbone services transport and telecommunications. The transport sector facilitates exports of goods, and access to essential imports, but also represents a service export in its own right (for neighboring land-locked countries). The focus here is on the 'soft' side of transport procedures, regulations and services which are often overlooked in favor of hard infrastructure investments. Improvements on the soft side are typically more cost-effective if only because they cost little or no money.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Global Economic Prospects, January 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16)Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.Publication China Economic Update, June 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-06-14)Economic activity picked up in China in early 2024, buoyed by stronger exports. Meanwhile, growth in domestic demand moderated. Manufacturing and infrastructure investment and consumer spending on services remained robust, while the property market correction continued. In the long term, China’s rapidly aging population will have wide-ranging economic impacts, but with the right policies the demographic transition is manageable. The economic challenges from an aging population can be overcome with policies that increase labor force participation and extend productive working lives. Affordable childcare, better work-life balance, elimination of gender bias in hiring, a higher retirement age, skills upgrading, and lifelong learning are measures that could expand China’s workforce and make it more productive.Publication The Container Port Performance Index 2023(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-07-18)The Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) measures the time container ships spend in port, making it an important point of reference for stakeholders in the global economy. These stakeholders include port authorities and operators, national governments, supranational organizations, development agencies, and other public and private players in trade and logistics. The index highlights where vessel time in container ports could be improved. Streamlining these processes would benefit all parties involved, including shipping lines, national governments, and consumers. This fourth edition of the CPPI relies on data from 405 container ports with at least 24 container ship port calls in the calendar year 2023. As in earlier editions of the CPPI, the ranking employs two different methodological approaches: an administrative (technical) approach and a statistical approach (using matrix factorization). Combining these two approaches ensures that the overall ranking of container ports reflects actual port performance as closely as possible while also being statistically robust. The CPPI methodology assesses the sequential steps of a container ship port call. ‘Total port hours’ refers to the total time elapsed from the moment a ship arrives at the port until the vessel leaves the berth after completing its cargo operations. The CPPI uses time as an indicator because time is very important to shipping lines, ports, and the entire logistics chain. However, time, as captured by the CPPI, is not the only way to measure port efficiency, so it does not tell the entire story of a port’s performance. Factors that can influence the time vessels spend in ports can be location-specific and under the port’s control (endogenous) or external and beyond the control of the port (exogenous). The CPPI measures time spent in container ports, strictly based on quantitative data only, which do not reveal the underlying factors or root causes of extended port times. A detailed port-specific diagnostic would be required to assess the contribution of underlying factors to the time a vessel spends in port. A very low ranking or a significant change in ranking may warrant special attention, for which the World Bank generally recommends a detailed diagnostic.Publication Global Economic Prospects, June 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-06-10)The global economy is facing another substantial headwind, emanating largely from an increase in trade tensions and heightened global policy uncertainty. For emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), the ability to boost job creation and reduce extreme poverty has declined. Key downside risks include a further escalation of trade barriers and continued policy uncertainty. These challenges are exacerbated by subdued foreign direct investment into EMDEs. Global cooperation is needed to restore a more stable international trade environment and scale up support for vulnerable countries grappling with conflict, debt burdens, and climate change. Domestic policy action is also critical to contain inflation risks and strengthen fiscal resilience. To accelerate job creation and long-term growth, structural reforms must focus on raising institutional quality, attracting private investment, and strengthening human capital and labor markets. Countries in fragile and conflict situations face daunting development challenges that will require tailored domestic policy reforms and well-coordinated multilateral support.Publication Digital Progress and Trends Report 2023(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-05)Digitalization is the transformational opportunity of our time. The digital sector has become a powerhouse of innovation, economic growth, and job creation. Value added in the IT services sector grew at 8 percent annually during 2000–22, nearly twice as fast as the global economy. Employment growth in IT services reached 7 percent annually, six times higher than total employment growth. The diffusion and adoption of digital technologies are just as critical as their invention. Digital uptake has accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 1.5 billion new internet users added from 2018 to 2022. The share of firms investing in digital solutions around the world has more than doubled from 2020 to 2022. Low-income countries, vulnerable populations, and small firms, however, have been falling behind, while transformative digital innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) have been accelerating in higher-income countries. Although more than 90 percent of the population in high-income countries was online in 2022, only one in four people in low-income countries used the internet, and the speed of their connection was typically only a small fraction of that in wealthier countries. As businesses in technologically advanced countries integrate generative AI into their products and services, less than half of the businesses in many low- and middle-income countries have an internet connection. The growing digital divide is exacerbating the poverty and productivity gaps between richer and poorer economies. The Digital Progress and Trends Report series will track global digitalization progress and highlight policy trends, debates, and implications for low- and middle-income countries. The series adds to the global efforts to study the progress and trends of digitalization in two main ways: · By compiling, curating, and analyzing data from diverse sources to present a comprehensive picture of digitalization in low- and middle-income countries, including in-depth analyses on understudied topics. · By developing insights on policy opportunities, challenges, and debates and reflecting the perspectives of various stakeholders and the World Bank’s operational experiences. This report, the first in the series, aims to inform evidence-based policy making and motivate action among internal and external audiences and stakeholders. The report will bring global attention to high-performing countries that have valuable experience to share as well as to areas where efforts will need to be redoubled.