Bolivia to Invest in Success of Family Farming and Forest Conservation

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a $40 million loan to Bolivia for the Land Management Program for Sustainable Rural Development. The program will strengthen the legal security of rural land ownership, enhance sustainable land use and boost the efficiency of the cadastral system.

Bolivia has made significant progress on regularizing rural property ownership, and its process of cadaster, title clearance, titling, and registration for rural land is reaching its final stage. Changes in the land tenure structure over the last 30 years have helped close gaps in access to land for smallholders and indigenous communities. However, 13.3 million hectares still have yet to be registered, a task to be completed under this program.

In addition to boosting the certainty of property rights, the loan approved by the IDB's Board of Executive Directors will help reduce deforestation and land use change in areas included in the environmental and rural cadaster.

Since land reform processes in most countries, including Bolivia, are complex, the program will include actions to strengthen and consolidate the national land management system. As part of this initiative, the program will update the legal framework, including rules for resolving land ownership disputes. It will also modernize the information systems of the National Agrarian Reform Institute and digitalize its archives and files.

The IDB loan has a 24.5-year repayment period, an 11.8-year grace period, and an interest rate based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR).