the development of land tenure projects and policies.<sup>20</sup> According to the World Bank (2012b), “...sound land policies can safeguard the livelihoods of the very vulnerable by giving them access to land and income-earning opportunities through rental markets or redistribution of land. Accelerated land registration facilitates land rental markets, which make it easier for the poor to access land on rental terms...Land access for the poor can also be improved by redistributing underused and unused agricultural land to them.”<sup>21</sup> The same policies and measures that will help the poor access land as competition for it increases will also help young people. Programs addressing access to land can include special provisions to assist young people, and several examples already under way are described below.

**Systematic inventory and registration of land.** About 10 percent of occupied land in SSA countries is formally registered (World Bank 2012b). State ownership of land is widespread, but even this land is not fully documented, and long-term use and occupancy by individuals or groups blur the issue of ownership. For example, in Ghana in 2000, the state owned about 40 percent of all urban and peri-urban lands, most of which were undeveloped (Kasanga and Kotey 2001). Peri-urban land is often transitional between agricultural and nonagricultural use. Due to its location, it offers potential for high returns in intensive horticulture, tank aquaculture, or pig or poultry production, but also requires significant investment. Holders of peri-urban land often have other income streams and are linked to the financial system, so they can in principle make the required investments. They will not do so, however, with ambiguity in ownership or lack of clarity on their duration of tenure. Systematic registry of lands is necessary to underpin efforts to create employment opportunities in agriculture in any of the four pathways. Notable efforts are under way for various categories of tenure and are yielding fruits, but the pace of activity is not yet sufficient to address the urgency of the problem.

_Inventory and registration of individual land rights._ A number of SSA countries have made recent progress in formal documentation of individual land ownership. For example, by the end of 2012, Rwanda had demarcated all 10.5 million land parcels in the country and registered and prepared leases for at least 83 percent of them. Of the almost 1 million leases collected as of March 2012, 7 percent were claimed by women; 5 percent by men; 83 percent by married couples; and 1 percent by other legal entities (World Bank 2012b). Elsewhere, using a participatory, public process, Ethiopia has awarded certificates for more than 25 million parcels in rural areas throughout the country, with noted benefits including “reduced conflicts, empowerment of women, increased individual and community investment, and improved security” (World Bank 2012b). Madagascar has issued 75,000 certificates akin to traditional land titles, while about 27,000 Certificates of Customary Rights of Occupancy have been issued in two districts in Tanzania. Similarly, under a pilot program in Ghana nearly 10,000 land parcels in policies, legislation, and programs, allowing government authorities, the private sector, civil society, and citizens to judge whether their proposed actions and the actions of others constitute acceptable practices.

> 20 Encouraging collaboration with the Sustainable Commodity Roundtables can also help to increase the extent to which crop production systems meet voluntary environmental and social criteria, including those of the Roundtable for Responsible Soy, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, the Better Sugarcane Initiative, and a variety of forest certification processes.

> 21 This section draws heavily from World Bank (2012b).

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