Honduras, Usaid

Land Market Impact Assessment: Honduras


Summary

Two USAID projects in Honduras were identified for assessment: (1) Small Farmer Titling Project (No. 5220173) of the mid- to late 1980s and (2) Policy Analysis and Implementation Project (No. 5220325) from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. The first project focused exclusively on the titling and registering of land rights of smallholderfamilies who have been occupying and working public land (both state- and municipal-owned) for years. However, the documentation does not deal with the impact of titling and registration of land rights on the land market. Titling and registration was one component, albeit an important one, of the second project. In this case, it appears that the titling and registration activities focused onagrarian reform beneficiaries who had received land during the agrarian reform but had not been issued titles.


Findings

Both of these projects focused on titling smallholder families—one of them had this as its only objective. Nevertheless, the documentation does not permit an assessment of what these projects achieved with regard to this objective. Neither does the documentation permit anassessment of the projects on the land market and land adminstration institutions.


1. Measurable Effects

The documentation confirmed that a substantial number of smallholder farmers were issued titles under the Small Farmer Titling project. Other than that, however, immediate or long-term effects/impacts on land markets of this project or of the titling activities of the Policy Analysisand Implementation Project could not be determined from the documentation.


2. Policy and Institutional Issues

Very little information on policy and institutional issues was included in the project documentation. An important policy and institutional improvement seems to been brought about through the passing of the 1992 law that promotes the modernization of the agricultural sector. Theoverall objective of the law is to improve land rights, facilitate land transactions, and make agricultural credit more accessible to smallholders. On the other hand, a study undertaken in 1997 suggests that (1) many smallholders still do not have title to their land and (2) smallholders are renting out their parcels to agribusiness because they cannot access production credit to farm the landthemselves.


3. Implementation Issues

The two projects dealt mainly with titling, mapping, and registration; the documentation, however, provides very little information on most the implementation issues included in this assessment (other than titling), particularly with regard to the registration system and the mapping and cadaster agency. In short, the documentation contributes verylittle to the discussion on best practices.


Documentation

Documentation for these two projects was very spotty and not adequate for an assessment of USAID’s projects on the land market in Honduras. No project design is available for the Small Farmer Titling project, only a final report by the cadastral contractor and an external evaluation report are available. There are no reports by theother contractors, no project completion report, or an impact evaluation report.

For the Policy Analysis and Implementation Project, the project design document is not available, only the Project Authorization document and a project amendment midway through the life of the project. Neither are there any end of project reports such as contractor/grantee reports and internal or externalevaluation reports. A study undertaken by the contractor on the particular topic of land rentals was useful in providing some information about the land market in Honduras.


1. Description of Honduras Projects

Two USAID projects in Honduras were identified for assessment: (1) Small Farmer Titling Project (No. 5220173) of the mid- to late-1980s and (2) Policy Analysis and Implementation Project...