Whether it is called land reform or agrarian reform, the operational concept covers five main types of reform, classified according to whether they deal with land title and terms of holding, land distribution, the scale of operation, the pattern of cultivation, or supplementary measures such as credit, marketing, or extension services.
Peasants at work before the gates of a town. Miniature painting from the Breviarium Grimani, c. late 15th century.
The History Collection/Alamy
Reforms concerned with the title to land and the terms of holding reflect a transition from tradition-bound to formal and contractual systems of landholding. Their implementation involves property surveys, recording of titles, and provisions to free the landholder from restrictions or obligations imposed by tradition. Property surveys are conducted wherever land is held by a tribe or clan or where reallocation of cultivable land routinely follows tradition. In these situations the landholder may lack the incentive to improve the land because the right of disposal belongs to the tribe, clan, or feudal lord, as in medieval Europe and in parts of present-day Africa and the South Pacific islands. Such reform affects landholding in at least three ways: it may increase security of tenure and hence incentives; it may reorganize the system of inheritance in favour of offspring; and it may bring land onto the market so that land transactions become possible. This reform, however, has little immediate effect on the scale of operation, but it does facilitate future land concentration and fragmentation. In countries where the terms of holding and tenancy are regulated by tradition, reform may seek to convert tenancy into a contractual agreement that offers some protection to the tenant and more security and incentive to improve the land and advance technology, as in Japan, India, and Pakistan.
The most common type of reform involves the redistribution of land titles from one individual to another, from individuals to a group or community at large, or from a group to individuals. The land of one landlord may be redistributed to many individuals, as in Egypt, Iran, or Ireland. Or the land of individuals may be reallocated in favour of the community at large by abolishing private ownership, as in Cuba. Or, again, public land may be distributed to individuals, as in various parts of Latin America.
The impact of redistribution on the scale of operations and on marketability of the land depends on the form it takes and the restrictions attached to it. If the redistributed farm was previously operated as a unit, its division means fragmentation and reduction of scale; however, if it was operated in fragments by tenants, transfer of title to the tenants would not affect the scale. The final results depend on the measures taken to prevent adverse effects.
Cooperative workers drying coffee on racks in Nyeri, Kenya.
Brian Seed from TSWâCLICK/Chicago
Land-tenure reform, of course, can improve the scale of operations by enlarging the farm or by reducing it. Enlargement applies when the holding is increased in size, either by adding to it or by consolidating its fragmented parts. Farm consolidation involves reallocation of the total farmland within a region by land exchange, sale, or lease such that no one loses and all gain by increasing efficiency. The scale of operations may be increased by pooling resources, as in farm cooperatives and collectives that offer facilities otherwise inaccessible to a small farm.
An equally common approach is to divide large, extensively cultivated farms into smaller and more intensively cultivable units. Reduction of the scale, however, has potential problems since it may result in excessively small units or in the breakup of efficiently run farms. Operations below the optimum level may inhibit improvements in technology, capital investment, and diversification.
Changes in the pattern of cultivation relate directly to cultivation, land yield, and labour productivity. While other types of reform may influence productivity indirectly by enhancing security of tenure and the scale of operation, improvements in the pattern of cultivation affect productivity directly, through advances in technology, improved irrigation, and the application of chemicals.
Technological advance usually implies mechanization, although it may be biological and organizational only, as in crop rotation, reconditioning of the soil, improved seeding, or better utilization of available technology. The state of technology determines the level of productivity or the ratio between outputs and inputs. More advanced technology permits the cultivation of more land per unit of labour, deeper plowing, better timing of farm operations, reclamation of areas previously inaccessible, and possibly wider diversification of the crops than previously attainable. By easing the physical burden of farm work, it helps to conserve human energy. Improved technology may also be the most direct way to modify tradition without an open confrontation or a political revolution. Mechanization and advanced technology may, of course, cause displacement of labour, unemployment, or the absorption of capital at the expense of other sectors, at least in the short run; in the long run, the positive effects tend to prevail.
Improvements in irrigation include increasing the water supply, draining swampy land, and regulating the quantity and quality of water flow. Irrigation is especially important in that it involves large investments and infringes on tenure rights, both matters that invite public responsibility and intervention. Irrigation and technology are closely related to the use of fertilizer and other chemicals. Chemicals may be difficult to apply without irrigation, and neither may be practical unless farming technology has advanced beyond relatively primitive methods. Improvement of the pattern of cultivation may be inhibited, however, by traditional attitudes, the lack of skills, or the scarcity of capital. Another difficulty is that changes in the pattern of cultivation are usually long-term investments that may be too slow to satisfy immediate pressures for reform.
Many improvements and changes may have to be implemented in areas outside the immediate sphere of agriculture, such as credit, marketing, and education. Unless the farmer is able and ready to take advantage of new opportunities and his product can be marketed profitably, reform efforts may be futile. Costly or inaccessible credit and the excessive charges of middlemen increase the relative costs of farming. Therefore, supervised credit, subsidies, and low-interest loans that help to replace traditional sources of credit have been common, and credit and marketing cooperatives and market regulation have been used to protect farmers against exploitation by middlemen.
Finally, improvements in general education are essential in any reform that involves the modernization of agriculture. Extension services, literacy promotion programs, the teaching of home economics, and vocational training are of special importance in helping the young and unemployed and in providing skilled labour for industry.
