Land Certification and Women's Empowerment in Rural Areas: evidence from Cashew Producing Communities in Benin.

This study examines the effects of secured land titles on women’s empowerment in the cashew nut sector in Benin, using primary survey data collected in 2022 under the PADEFA-ENA program. The analysis relies on an Instrumental Variable Two-Step estimation method. The descriptive results show important gender gaps: women have lower access to credit than men, and although land ownership is high for both groups, access to secured land titles remains limited, especially for women. Women also report lower climate change adaptation levels than men. The econometric results indicate that secured land titles have a positive and significant effect on women’s leadership empowerment, but a negative effect on production empowerment and the other four empowerment indicators. The results also show that age, access to credit, house ownership, livestock ownership, and phone ownership significantly influence women’s empowerment in rural Benin. These findings suggest that policies should not focus only on issuing land titles. They should also strengthen local land institutions, improve women’s knowledge of land code reforms, and ensure that land titles are registered in women’s names and effectively used by them. Moreover, complementary measures are needed to improve women’s access to agricultural inputs, credit, group membership, education, and other productive resources