Who collects, who purchases? Land ownership and biomass acquisition in LMICs
- 1World Bank Group
- 2World Bank
- 3Boston College
Abstract
This study examines the relationship between agricultural land ownership and household fuel use behavior in low- and middle-income countries. Using harmonized household survey data from 11 countries and pooled regressions with country fixed effects, the analysis compares land-owning and landless households across three dimensions of fuel behavior: firewood collection, firewood purchase, and firewood use as the main cooking fuel. The results show that land-owning households are more likely to collect firewood, less likely to purchase it, and more likely to rely on firewood as their primary cooking fuel. These findings persist after controlling for wealth, urban residence, electricity access, and household composition. Interaction models indicate that the land–collection relationship is stable across varying contexts, while the land–purchase relationship is weaker among urban and wealthier households, suggesting that land ownership may shift households from self-collection to purchase rather than out of biomass use altogether. Time-use regressions further show that land-owning households spend more time gathering and preparing fuel, indicating that access to biomass through land lowers cash expenditures but not labor costs. Overall, the findings suggest that land ownership is an important structural determinant of household fuel use behavior and that cooking transitions may depend not only on income and infrastructure, but also on access to biomass resources through land. The analysis demonstrates that the land–energy nexus deserves greater attention in future household energy research and in policies aimed at accelerating equitable and sustained cooking transitions.
Related
- Global inequalities in ownership-based carbon footprints
- Studying the Ownership Structures of an Algiers’ Neighbourhood on the Eve of Its Demolition. The Creation of a Geographic Information System Using Historical Land Records from the 1930s
- Plant nitrogen acquisition strategies impact ecosystem carbon storage under future climate
- Measured or assumed? Regulatory defaults, ownership, and the measurement content of the U.S. greenhouse gas inventory
- Bioflocculation of polystyrene microplastics using dried Nostoc spp. biomass: laboratory performance, response modeling, and mechanistic assessment
BibTeX
@article{dim2026collects,
title = {{Who collects, who purchases? Land ownership and biomass acquisition in LMICs}},
author = {Jennifer Uju Dim and David Daniel Lopez Soto and Soumya Balasubramanya and Praveen Kumar},
journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/aeb70c},
url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aeb70c},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Who collects, who purchases? Land ownership and biomass acquisition in LMICs
AU - Jennifer Uju Dim
AU - David Daniel Lopez Soto
AU - Soumya Balasubramanya
AU - Praveen Kumar
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - Environmental Research Letters
DO - 10.1088/1748-9326/aeb70c
UR - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aeb70c
AB - This study examines the relationship between agricultural land ownership and household fuel use behavior in low- and middle-income countries. Using harmonized household survey data from 11 countries and pooled regressions with country fixed effects, the analysis compares land-owning and landless households across three dimensions of fuel behavior: firewood collection, firewood purchase, and firewood use as the main cooking fuel. The results show that land-owning households are more likely to collect firewood, less likely to purchase it, and more likely to rely on firewood as their primary cooking fuel. These findings persist after controlling for wealth, urban residence, electricity access, and household composition. Interaction models indicate that the land–collection relationship is stable across varying contexts, while the land–purchase relationship is weaker among urban and wealthier households, suggesting that land ownership may shift households from self-collection to purchase rather than out of biomass use altogether. Time-use regressions further show that land-owning households spend more time gathering and preparing fuel, indicating that access to biomass through land lowers cash expenditures but not labor costs. Overall, the findings suggest that land ownership is an important structural determinant of household fuel use behavior and that cooking transitions may depend not only on income and infrastructure, but also on access to biomass resources through land. The analysis demonstrates that the land–energy nexus deserves greater attention in future household energy research and in policies aimed at accelerating equitable and sustained cooking transitions.
SN - 1748-9326
ER -