CHAPTER I

PROBLEMS CONNECTED WITH
THE CONCENTRATION OF LANDHOLDINGS

The Mortgage of the Past in the Present Situation

4. The agrarian structure of developing countries is often characterized by a two-tier form of distribution, with a small number of large landowners possessing most of the arable land, while vast numbers of very small owners, tenants and settlers farm the remaining land, which is often of inferior quality. Large holdings are still a feature of many such countries' land systems.(⁴)

The historical origins of the process of land concentration vary from region to region. It is particularly relevant to our own reflections to note that, in areas that came under colonial rule, concentration of land in large holdings really started to develop in the second half of the nineteenth century, through gradual private appropriation of the land, favoured by laws which introduced serious distortions into the land market.(⁵)

The private appropriation of land not only led to the formation and consolidation of large holdings, but also had the diametrically opposite effect of fragmenting small holdings.

In the best of hypotheses, small farmers(⁶) could acquire a meager piece of land to work with their families. However, when the family grew, they were unable to increase their holding, unless they were prepared to move their family to less fertile and more isolated land which required proportionately more labour.

This produced the conditions for further fragmentation of the already small area of land owned and, in any case, further impoverishment of the farmers and their families.

5. This situation has basically not improved in recent decades and, in many cases, has steadily deteriorated, despite the fact that daily experience shows what a negative impact it has on economic growth and social development.(⁷)

Underlying all is the interaction of a whole series of particularly serious phenomena, which are very similar in the various countries despite some national variations.

The approaches to economic development chosen by different developing countries in past decades have often encouraged the process of concentration of landholdings. As a rule, this process seems to be the result of economic measures and structural constraints which cannot be changed overnight and which have economic, social and environmental costs.