Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
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.
Source: Environmental Research Letters
Institutions: World Bank Group, World Bank, Boston College
Language: English
Subfield: Pollution
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,045
OpenAlex ID: W7223105531