Land tenure and economic development. A. Land tenure systems and farm mechanization in Taiwan. B. Farmland tenure in the Republic of Korea
Kuo, Y.C.; Peng, T.K.; Pak, K.H.
Extension Bulletin, Food and Fertilizer Technology Center, Taiwan 183: 18
1982
Document Number: 233595
The two papers were first presented at an international seminar on Adjustment of small farm development and land tenure systems in Asia, held in Taipei, Taiwan, in November, 1982. In the 1950s, both Korea and Taiwan were able to carry out successful programmes of land reform -- successful from the viewpoint both of the farmers and of the national economy. A "land to the tiller" policy created an agricultural system based on small independent farmers, who achieved an impressively high level of production. This in turn made a substantial contribution to the growth of the industrial sector and the national economy. However, a generation later, a number of problems are emerging. With population increase, farms have tended to become smaller. Any attempt to increase farm size is prevented by land reform regulations on tenancy and maximum farm size. Originally designed to protect and encourage the small farmer, these regulations now to some extent discourage the growth of agricultural production, in that they prevent the free acquisition and transfer of land ownership and tenure, and a constraint on flexible land use. Both papers discuss this situation, and suggest possible ways in which the difficulties now arising from an initially highly successful land reform programme might be overcome.