1.2.2.1 Rental Feudalism
Fiefs, tax lease, or economic hegermony are the basis upon
which the upper class of landowners (landlords) bases its
domination over the dependent farmers and landless. As the
latter have no other alternative means of earning their livelihood,
they have to accept high rents, forced labour, and in some
cases even personal dependence in order to find a livelihood
as tenant or labourer. Even if agrarian reforms and economic
development have brought about some changes, this system still
exists in many parts of Asia as well as in the Mediterranean
countries and Latin America.
Essential for the formation of this agrarian system is the
concentration of the ownership of land and water in the hands
of a few landlords whose interest in the land, however, is
limited.
They segment the land into very small parcels to be farmed
by sharecroppers. The duration of the contract often lasts
for only one vegetation period. They are, indeed, frequently
prolonged by tacit agreement, but the insecurity leads to
a state of dependence. The gross output is divided between
the landlord and tenant in the case of sharecropping. The
tenant must obey the landlord's orders on cultivation. Because
of the small size of the plots they rent, the economic situation
of the sharecroppers is critical and they frequently lose
even more freedom to the landlords as a result of debts. The
landlords try to gain higher incomes by means of high rents
while investing little effort instead of trying to reach the
tenants to crop more intensively. The land is a source of
rent for them that at the same time gives them prestige and
power since the tenants' dependent state covers even their
personal living conditions and forces them to be loyal in
all situations. The system takes from the poor and gives to
the rich. Profit is derived by siphoning off as much as possible,
not by increasing production.
The large landlords do not control the tenants personally,
but rather leave the job up to overseers (formerly to sub-leasers
as well) who increase the exploitation. Although restrictions
limiting the anount of land that can be owned have been introduced
through agrarian reforms in the post war period, they have
often led to only a replacement of the large landlord by the
petty landlord. Since the latter lives in the village, the
control is even stricter. In areas in which the Green Revolution
took place, the system has disintegrated because the landlords
evicted the tenants and began to cultivate the land themselves.
Under the new wage and earning ratios this proves to be more
economical.
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