Land Tenure Security and Youth Credit Access for Cocoa Cultivation: A Systematic Review of Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Côte d'Ivoire

{ "background": "Secure land tenure is posited as a critical determinant of agricultural investment, particularly for capital-intensive tree crops like cocoa. In Côte d'Ivoire, the world's largest cocoa producer, youth engagement is vital for sector sustainability, yet their access to formal credit remains constrained. The causal link between formal land titling and credit access for this demographic is not well established.", "purpose and objectives": "This systematic review synthesises empirical evidence on the causal effect of formal land titling on credit access for youth cultivating cocoa in the country's cocoa belt, focusing specifically on studies employing regression discontinuity designs (RDD) to identify local average treatment effects.", "methodology": "A systematic search was conducted across multiple academic databases. Studies were screened and selected based on pre-defined eligibility criteria: they must use a sharp or fuzzy RDD to evaluate a land formalisation programme's impact on credit outcomes for youth (aged 18-35) cocoa farmers. The review protocol followed PRISMA guidelines. The core RDD model for analysis is Yi = \α + \β Di + f(Xi - c) + \, where Dᵢ is titling status, c is the cutoff, and robust standard errors are clustered at the village level.", "findings": "The review identified a limited but coherent body of evidence. A key finding is that formal titling increases the likelihood of obtaining formal credit by approximately 15-20 percentage points for eligible youth near the assignment cutoff. However, this effect is highly localised and sensitive to the bandwidth selection; estimates are not statistically significant at conventional levels when using optimal bandwidths with robust bias-corrected inference.", "conclusion": "Formal land titling can improve credit access for youth cocoa farmers, but the measured effects are localised and methodologically fragile. The RDD evidence does not support broad generalisations of titling as a standalone solution for widespread youth credit constraints in the sector.", "recommendations": "Future research