Showing papers on "Marginal land published in 1993"

Power, distortions, revolt, and reform in agricultural land relations

Abstract: Most work on the relationship between farm size and productivity strongly suggests that farms that rely mostly on family labor are more productive than large farms operated primarily by hired labor. This study began as an inquiry into how rental and sales markets for agricultural land in the developing world affect efficiency and equity. What emerged was the clear sense that great variations in land relations around the world and over time cannot be understood in the common paradigm of property rights and competitive markets. Under that paradigm, land scarcity leads to better definition of rights, which are then traded in sales and rental markets accessible equally to all players. The outcome should be the allocation of land to the most efficient uses and users, yet this rarely happens. Instead, land rights and ownership tend to grow out of power relationships. Landowning groups have used coercion and distortions in land, labor, credit, and commodity markets to extract economic rents from the land, from peasants and workers, and most recently from urban consumer groups or taxpayers. Such rent-seeking activities reduce the efficiency of resource use, retard growth, and increase the poverty of the rural population. The authors examine how these power relations emerged and what legal means enabled relatively few landowners to accumulate and hold on to large landholdings. The authors discuss the successes and failures of reform in market and socialist economies, and the perversions of reforms in both systems, manifested in large commercial farms and collectives. They survey the history of land relations and the legacies that history leaves. They discuss the three analytical controversies surrounding economies of scale, and the efficiency of the land sales and land rental market. They discuss the main policy issues and implications of various distortions and successful and unsuccessful reforms in the developing world, including land registration and titling, land taxation, regulations restricting land sales and rentals, fragmentation and consolidation of land, redistributive land reform, and decollectivization. In an epilogue on methodology, the authors examine how various strands of economic theory have contributed, or failed to contribute, to the explanation of variations in policies, distortions, and land relations over space and time.

Bioeconomic Evaluation of Government Agricultural Programs on Wetlands Conversion

Abstract: An optimal control model is used to investigate the effect of government agricultural support programs on wetlands conversion in Canada's pothole region. Under existing grain programs, about 19 percent of land is left in an unimproved state conducive for waterfowl habitat; in the absence of government subsidies, 43 percent of agricultural land is left unimproved. The shadow values of marginal land are estimated to be $50-$60/acre. Given that habitat preservation programs pay farmers no more than $30/acre to maintain waterfowl habitat, and since Canadian programs have no conservation compliance provisions, it appears that current policy is misguided.

Land reclamation in Egypt

Abstract: Land reclamation in Egypt is of ancient origin, which for several millennia focused on the alluvial soils of the Nile Valley and Delta The assumption of power by Mohammad Ali marked the beginning of a rapid increase in cultivated land expansion as he embarked upon large scale reclamation works and canal construction/expansion Much of the reclamation efforts during this period were directed toward the saline clay soils of the Northern Delta between the two branches of the Nile, land reclamation in the deserts was only minor During the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century land reclamation in Egypt made only small progress After the 1952 revolution a new attempt in land reclamation was made Efforts from there on have increasingly focused on the reclamation of desert sands, as most of the remaining areas of undeveloped alluvial soils are relatively small and/or have particularly difficult reclamation problems This paper reports in its main part on the historical background of land reclamation in Egypt and discusses the problems in connection with Egypt's efforts to increase its arable land area by land reclamation Finally the question is raised whether the reclamation of desert sands is sustainable, especially under consideration of Andreae's hypothesis that "with rising income expectations and standards of living, higher agricultural yield levels are necessary And this is why in the course of development land which has been regarded until now as fairly fertile will become marginal land, and the previously marginal land will go out of production“ Besides this the question of water supply to irrigate the newly reclaimed land is still open

Human use of the sand dune ecosystem in the semiarid zone of the Rajasthan Desert, India

Abstract: Sand dunes form one of the most fragile terrestrial ecosystems. in Rajasthan they have a diverse vegetation and are often utilized by considerable human and livestock populations. a thorough knowledge of the resource utilization by the human and animal populations is essential if the future potential of the ecosystem and its physical stability under changing environmental conditions are to be accurately assessed. This study examines the socio-economic aspect of land degradation at four sites in Churu and Jhunjhunu districts, northwest Rajasthan. an attempt is made to assess the socioeconomic factors leading to land degradation. Data on human use of the Rajasthan (Thar) Desert semiarid ecosystem were collected through individual interviews, group discussions and field measurements. the present exploitation of soil and vegetation resources, possible future biomass deficiency, its impact on sustainable development and role in land degradation are examined. The average number of people in each household in the study area, and the number of livestock each household maintains are too high to allow a satisfactory income to be sustained. the annual income of 50-90 per cent of households was less than 10 000 rupees ($US 1 = 17 rupees in 1987). Sale and consumption of milk, wool, surplus animals and wood provide livelihood, supplemented with income from wage labour. Rain-fed marginal land cultivation produces poor yields and the per capita production is too low to justify the huge soil erosion losses occurring. the number of goats, sheep and cattle owned by the inhabitants has increased tremendously in recent years. Stocking rates vary from 1.63 to 12.08 animals per hectare. the grazing pressure during the dry season, when forage availability decreases, reaches 34.9 animals per hectare. as a result of overgrazing, The land productivity has decreased considerably. the annual fodder deficit values in the study area are enormous. Demand for fuelwood at all the study sites is increasing, yet available forests have already largely been cut down. the distance travelled to collect fuelwood has been increasing, whereas the amount and quality of fuelwood is decreasing. Use of cattle dung to supplement fuelwood during the summer dry season and in drought periods has been decreasing due to low fodder availability and high livestock mortality. Human numbers are increasing, and livestock numbers are also multiplying (except in drought periods) and consequently the available resources are decreasing. Soil erosion and desertification will continue to increase during the next decade unless effective counter measures are undertaken.