Land and Land Tenure

Abstract

In both traditional and modernizing agriculture, area and quality of land farmed is the principal determinant of income potential. The essence of modernization is a large sustained increase in crop yields. That potential is influenced by the characteristics of land in traditional agriculture. This chapter describes characteristics of land, systems of land tenure, the potential for increasing land area, and sustainability and environmental issues in land preservation. Large-scale feudal farming once dominated large areas but now have mostly been converted to small commercial farms through radical changes in government. Systems dominated by small commercial farmers are most suitable to rapid agricultural growth and to poverty reduction.