Economic development and social benefits are boosted when governments strengthen people's land rights and dismantle barriers to land transactions, a World Bank report said yesterday.

"Land policies are at the root of social conflicts in countries as diverse as Cambodia and Colombia, Zimbabwe and Cote d'Ivoire," the bank said in a preface to the report, entitled Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction.

"In many developing countries governments own much of the land that poor people work and occupy," it noted.

"Land also may be held under traditional systems that are not legally recognised or the legal status of the land may be otherwise unclear.

"Virtually everywhere land tenure systems discriminate heavily against women, with negative consequences for the entire society".

The report said political disputes "and the fact that benefits of policy improvement accrue to people who are politically weak" cause vested interests to resist reform.

"In all these situations, lack of secure tenure undermines incentives for poor people to invest in their land, for example, for small farmers to build terraces or irrigation, or for slum dwellers to lay a cement floor or put on a new roof.

"In addition, poor people with insecure land tenure are often afraid to criticise corruption or other abuses of power because they fear that officials will take away their land access," the World Bank said.

It urged governments to recognise the right of poor people to land they legitimately occupy by giving secure leases on state-owned land or transferring ownership to the occupants.

Clarifiying rules and granting legal rights, as well as establishing means of conflict resolution and defending rights against challenges would also encourage people to develop their property.

Countries such as China, Mexico, Thailand, Uganda and some in Eastern Europe have begun to tackle land issues to the benefit of all, the report said.

"Starting in 1992, Mexico transferred rights to 50-million hectares of state land to local communities known as ejidos.

The transfer was supported by new laws, agrarian courts, a massive education campaign, systematic boundary demarcation, and award of land certificates to communities and individuals.

"The programme raised incomes, improved governance, and stimulated growth of the rural non-farm economy".

In countries such as Bangladesh, India, and Ethiopia however, restrictions on land rentals to limit exploitation of tenant farmers often backfired, the bank said.

"Instead of protecting poor people, they reduce poor people's access to land, foster petty corruption and red tape, and discourage the investment that is needed for jobs and poverty-reducing growth".

"Restrictions often merely force the sales underground, to the detriment of everybody," the report warned.

It was released at a meeting that included members of the European Union Land Policy Task Force and was to be followed by two days of talks by experts on land and conflict organised by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). - Sapa-AFP.