Cheaper, Faster, and More Than Good Enough : Is GPS the New Gold Standard in Land Area Measurement?

Carletto, Calogero ; Gourlay, Sydney ; Murray, Siobhan ; Zezza, Alberto

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: land;    land management;    cadastral information;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7759
RP-ID  :  WPS7759

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

In rural societies of low- andmiddle-income countries, land is a major measure of wealth,a critical input in agricultural production, and a keyvariable for assessing agricultural performance andproductivity. In the absence of cadastral information torefer to, measures of land plots have historically beentaken with one of two approaches: traversing (accurate, butcumbersome), and farmers' self-report (cheap, butmarred by measurement error). Recently, the advent of cheaphandheld GPS devices has held promise for balancing cost andprecision. Guided by purposely collected primary data fromEthiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania (Zanzibar), and withconsideration for practical household survey implementation,the paper assesses the nature and magnitude of measurementerror under different measurement methods and proposes a setof recommendations for plot area measurement. The resultslargely point to the support of GPS measurement, withsimultaneous collection of farmer self-reported areas.