The Effect of Policy and Technological Innovations of Land Tenure on Small Landholders’ Credit-Worthiness: Evidence from Ethiopia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This paper addresses an important assumption yet also contradiction in many land administration studies, namely that registration alone would lead to more credits and loans. The study tests the degree to which this is valid, the the condition which make this valid or not valid. The details lie in the manner in which microfinancial institutions are or continue to be available and are operating in rural areas. Overall, this is an important finding, which is well described. For this reaosn I only have some minor comments to improve the manuscript.

Some general comments:

Section 4.1. states 'Access to credit for smallholder households has been much more limited in rural Ethiopia due to absence of enabling policy and legal framework' - one cannot draw a causal relation out of something which does not exist. Instead, it is possible to reformaulte that interms of the perceptions or experiecne or beliefs - many repondents could not find the regulations or the support to deal with the regulations. 

Section 4.1. also states - 'financial institutions operating in the developing economies including in Ethiopia prefer to use immovable properties, such as land and real properties, as security interests' -  on which evidence in Ethiopia is this however based? were the financial institutons in Ethiopia also asked about their reasons and practices? If so, where are these statistics? If not, please reformulate this sentence.

- seciton 4.1. 'secure land tenure and property rights founded on sound policy and regulatory frameworks are vital' - this 'sound policy' is actually too vague. Instead, this has to be specific. What should the policy actually contain? what should exactly be in the regulations such that security is visibly improved in such a way that one can actually measure and observe it?

Some editorial /language comments:

- line 450 -  'leis' should be 'lies'

- references 11, 17 and 47 use capitals - this should be in lower case.

- delete all the reference to 'attempt' 'tries', simply write more direct. You do not attempt in a scientific paper, but you state or posit something based on evidence or argumentation.

 

Some editorial /language comments:

- line 450 -  'leis' should be 'lies'

- references 11, 17 and 47 use capitals - this should be in lower case.

- delete all the reference to 'attempt' 'tries', simply write more direct. You do not attempt in a scientific paper, but you state or posit something based on evidence or argumentation.

 

 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Many thanks for your detail comments and positive feedback, very much appreciated. We addressed the comments and clarified the issues raised in the revised and resubmitted the article for your further review. Once again, thank you so much for taking the time from your busy schedule and sharing your wisdom and scientific insights. 

For ease of reference please kindly see the changes made and responses (in red text) to your comments and suggestions below my signature.

Kind Regards

Shewakena on the authors behalf

***

Section 4.1. states 'Access to credit for smallholder households has been much more limited in rural Ethiopia due to absence of enabling policy and legal framework' - one cannot draw a causal relation out of something which does not exist. Instead, it is possible to reformulate that in terms of the perceptions or experience or beliefs - many respondents could not find the regulations or the support to deal with the regulations. Thank you, added specific phrases that clarify the issue better under line 464 and 465. Now section 4.1 become 5.1 since another reviewer suggested to open a new sub-section for background.

Section 4.1. also states - 'financial institutions operating in the developing economies including in Ethiopia prefer to use immovable properties, such as land and real properties, as security interests' -  on which evidence in Ethiopia is this however based? were the financial institutions in Ethiopia also asked about their reasons and practices? If so, where are these statistics? If not, please reformulate this sentence. Thanks much for flagging this up. We provided additional brief information that justify the legal basis for this argument and the practice of financial institutions in assessing credit applications.  

- seciton 4.1. 'secure land tenure and property rights founded on sound policy and regulatory frameworks are vital' - this 'sound policy' is actually too vague. Instead, this has to be specific. What should the policy actually contain? what should exactly be in the regulations such that security is visibly improved in such a way that one can actually measure and observe it? Thank you so much. Additional sentences are inserted which clarify the contents of 'sound policy' and the required regulations as well as institutional arrangements for security is visibly improved (see lines 486 to 491 under section 5.1). 

Some editorial /language comments:

- line 450 -  'leis' should be 'lies' - thanks, done.

- references 11, 17 and 47 use capitals - this should be in lower case. Thanks, done.

- delete all the reference to 'attempt' 'tries', simply write more direct. You do not attempt in a scientific paper, but you state or posit something based on evidence or argumentation. Thanks, and agree, the likes of attempt and tries removed from the article.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

I appreciate the invitation extended to me and have reviewed the paper. The manuscript is a valuable addition to the field and is of interest to the journal's readership. The paper is well-organized and well-written, but I have some minor comments that would help to contextualize the content further.

Firstly, I suggest opening a new sub-section titled 'Background' starting from Line 97. This would provide additional context to the reader and help to frame the study.

Secondly, I recommend that the authors expand on their discussion of the political trust impacts of the project in Ethiopia, and its contributions to the universal effort for land reform. They may refer to the sources provided at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106656 and https://doi.org/10.3390/land11020160 to further support their arguments.

Lastly, it would be beneficial for the authors to mention or discuss other large-scale projects and technological developments related to credit access and check payments in more developed parts of the world. This would provide a comparative perspective and highlight future directions for Ethiopia's cadastral future. The following sources can be referred to for elaboration: https://people.utm.my/tlchoon/files/2016/02/Cadastral-Futures-Building-a-New-Vision-for-the-Nature-and-Role-of-cadastre.pdf, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104376, and https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104527

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Many thanks for taking the time to review the manuscript and provide us with your invaluable comments and share your scientific wisdom and insights as well as constructive feedback, very much appreciated. We addressed the comments in the revised version of the manuscript and resubmitted it in the system for your further review. We have also reviewed the suggested literature and improved our argument  where appropriate. However, some of the literature may be more relevant to our ongoing work and future publications. We made necessary adjustments in the revised version as per the comments and suggestions and also see some responses in red text below my signature.

Kind regards

Shewakena on behalf of the authors

1) open a new sub-section titled 'Background' starting from Line 97 - thanks, new subsection created with additional paragraph on broader context of the political- economy of land in Ethiopia. 2)  the authors expand on their discussion of the political trust impacts of the project in Ethiopia, and its contributions to the universal effort for land reform - thank you, indeed this is interesting topic and literature. We featured the literature in the background section, yet we thought this could be an interesting stand alone research agenda for our future work given the scale of the land administration reform being implemented over the past two decades. 3) it would be beneficial for the authors to mention or discuss other large-scale projects and technological developments related to credit access and check payments in more developed parts of the world. This would provide a comparative perspective and highlight future directions for Ethiopia's cadastral future. Thanks again for the suggestion. Yes, we reviewed the proposed literature and found it interesting. However, given that the collateralization of land use rights is a recent phenomenon, what we have demonstrated in the current article is the genesis of this emerging issue in the context of Ethiopia's rural cadastral system. Comparative perspective is very important but we limited our effort to document the national context and contributed to the existing literature on what conditions required to make the land certification work better to access credit. As the country liberalizes more  and the collateralization gets traction at scale, comparative approaches with developed economies might be interesting in the years to come regarding this research agenda.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx