Types Of Agrarian Reform

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There are various types of agrarian reform. Depending on the need of the situation, these reforms are executed. In the following section we have detailed the different types of Agrarian Reforms.

I) Ownership related agrarian reform

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  • Fixing a Ceiling:Fixing a ceiling is the government’s decision. The land that is held above the ceiling limit is usurped by the government and is redistributed to those in need of land. Fixing the ceiling is vital as it decides the future provisions of land redistribution. If however, the ceiling fixed is quite high, it affects a handful of landlords. Under these circumstances, there would be less stretches of landed property left for the purpose of redistribution. Fixing a ceiling could however decrease the agricultural production as farmers would tend to relocate to different places . In the event, when the ceiling is violated the excess stretch of land is taken away by the government.
  • Rights of the peasants:There are limitations imposed on the rights of the peasants. For instance, in Mexico, the redistributed land is not allowed to be sold or one cannot avail of a mortgage loan against this land. In countries like Pakistan and Egypt the government demarcates a particular stretch of land, which cannot be divided or sold. The governments in Syria, Iraq and Egypt reserve the right to dispose the redistributed land if they find that the land is not irrigated properly.
  • Compensation paid to the farmers:Compensation is not provided for land that has been expropriated from foreigners or enemies of the state. Excluding such instances, compensation is paid in majority of the cases. Compensation against expropriated land may be in cash or kind. The compensation amount differs from country to country. At times, compensation may be paid in installments or in bonds.
  • Collectivization:Some countries believe that if the landed property is owned privately, it is mostly misused and should therefore be stopped. Collectivization is the process by which tracts of agricultural land are handed over to groups. Along with the land, rights are also transferred. [br]

    II) Reforms pertaining to tenancy:

    Tenancy Reforms are necessary to provide security to the tenants. It is observed that the tenants are the worst affected especially, in time of any ownership problems or disputes arising out of farming conditions. In some cases, in order to avoid forcible occupation by the tenants or forceful evacuation of the tenants they are encouraged to maintain tenancy contracts for a particular duration. It may be a year or more than a year depending on the circumstances governing the written contract.

    III) Agrarian reform pertaining to land management:

    Agrarian measure in the context of managing agricultural land is a very important tool to implement the agrarian structure. The features of the land management system is detailed below.

  • Providing knowledge to the farmers is a part and parcel of the land management program. When ownership is transferred or when a peasant acquires land, he is not aware of the tricks of the trade as how the production could be increased. Management projects assist the farmers for the same.
  • Knowledge pertaining to sowing seeds and different crops is imparted to the farmers .
  • Whenever a farmer moves to a different locality soil and weather conditions are not known. The land management programs help the farmer to get acclimatized to the new environmental set up.
  • Management programs assist peasants in marketing their agricultural products.
  • Usage of agricultural machinery and equipments are taught to the farmers.
  • Conducting research on improving soil conditions, raw materials for crop growth, application of fertilizers are also taken care of by the management projects.
  • The land management programs help in the easy availability of credit from the financial institutions.
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