Land reforms may be enacted through various components,
such as:
– the legal (re)definition of rights to land and the holders of these rights,
– the allocation, withdrawal and/or redistribution of rights,
– statutory frameworks for legal recognition of these rights (or for registering/formalising rights),
– the administrative and governance arrangements required to implement the reform.
The reform initiated in Madagascar in 2005 focused on the last two elements in order to legally recognise family farmers’ de facto land rights and register them in new property titles, known as land certificates. This is done through local land offices, which are a new structure managed at the commune level.

This briefing note is also available in French.