The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1951-08-17

dli0 -oCFClOPOo SOollCl lCo .
able to landless peasants and
"To very large extent, the prob
lem of the under-developed countries
of the world is the problem of the
poverty of their farm populations,
states the report which the Economic
and Social Council just prepared in
cooperation with the Food and Ag-
riculture Organization. This report,
drawn up under the auspices of UN
Secretary General Trygve Lie, rec
ognizes that Unsatisfactory forms
of agrarian structure"-such as, too
much land concentrated in too few
hands-"tend in variety of ways to
impede economic development in the
under-developed countries"
Unequal Land Holdings
In many parts of South America,
the report states, there would ap-
pear good reason to believe that
many holdings are uneconomically
large" 1t asserts:
'In Argentine, IS per cent of the
privately held agricultural land
is in estates larger than ESQ
acres, while 80 per cent of the
farm population own no land"
Another example cited by the re-
port is that of Brazil, where:
almost half of the land is held in
estates of over $500 acres; half
of the farms are less than SO
acres in size, but account for less
than 20 Fer cent of the cultivated
area.
Examples Cited by UN Report
While the UN report leans over
backwards in an effort to avoid Of
Tending the owners of large estates
and plantations, the figures that it
cites for Brazil speak for themselves.
There, the large holdings of 1000
acres or more, which amount to only
1917 of the total number of farm
monopolize nearly half
(48.3%) of the land. Yet, they pro-
vide employment for only 6.7%o of
the 10,160,000 persons who are full
time workers in Brazilian agriculture.
In Egypt, the report notes that
there are 1.-TWO million cultivators
owning less than one feddan" G.038 |
acres) and, in addition, "there is a
large class of landless labourers who
work on large estates and own no
land" At the top of the pyramid,
however. there are IL 900 big owners
who hold total of 100000 feddans
1928, 900 acres)-or almost three
times as much land as the two million
small owners.
The universal desire of farm fam
lies to own the land that they have
titled and to enjoy the fruits of
their labor has played an important
role in history. The stubborn refusal
Of ruling groups to recognize the
Just claims of the landless and semi
andless families has, as the report
done much to touch off
he upheavals that occurred in China
and more recently Korea.
-hina's' Efforts-Past and Present
"Until the recent reforms, tenancy
vas fairly prevalent feature of the
agrarian structure of China" the UN
'eport asserts, with 70 to 800 of the
arable land being owned by landlords.
Sun Yat-sen had voiced the principle
If "the land to the tiller," and though
n October 1926 the Nationalist Party
# Chang Kai-shek promulgated
,5Zc reduction in rents as the first
tep in a land reform program, the
in report states:
This reduction was not seriously
enforced. In 1925 and 1927, five
provinces issued rent reduction
regulations, but political dissen-
sion and landlords opposition pre-
vented the enforcement of the
law except in one province"
"After the establishment of the
CENTRAL Peoples Government of the
topples Republic of China in Oc-
ODER 1949, agrarian reform policy
ook shape in the Agrarian Reform
Jaw of June $780," the report as ]
erts. While it cites no recent data
n how far land reform has pro- I
eeded, it states: