Tree planting under customary tenure systems in malawi: impacts of marriage and inheritance patterns

Debates about land tenure throughout Africa, and in Malawi in particular, are central to development strategies. Marriage and inheritance patterns are important aspects of tenure that influence how individuals acquire land and trees thereon. Accordingly, such patterns may influence the management of natural resources, such as trees. Along these lines, policy makers in Malawi have been suggesting that uxorilocal marriage, where the man resides in the woman's village upon marriage, discourages tree planting. In this study we investigate how marriage and inheritance patterns affect tree-planting behavior by gender in two villages. Results show that tree planting by men may indeed be dissuaded by uxorilocal marriage patterns. Furthermore, tree planting by married women is not necessarily promoted under uxorilocal patterns. Rather, a high incidence of non-married women appears to be associated with increased tree planting by women.