1.2 AGRARIAN SYSTEMS
The system of land tenure (that is, land ownership and labour
organization) and the technological and economic conditions
are not independent factors. Their concrete form is interlaced
with the natural and social conditions found in each specific
area.
The natural conditions not only influence the production
factors- generally good and poor soil, enough precipitation,
and temperatures favourable for growth and working- but also
influence what types of ownership are found in an area: large
farms are seldom found, for example, in regions where the
soil conditions are poor and the topography is mountainous.
Even more important is the relation between the agrarian
structure and the existing social conditions in the individual
countries and regions. Feudal, capitalistic, and socialistic
social orders result in very different conditions of land
ownership, systems of labour organization, and forms of cultivation.
The social system, in other words, makes up the framework
within which agrarian structures can evolve. In this process
the state as well as tribes, landlords, communes, and colonial
powers can determine the conditions. Within the framework
of social conditions, the agricultural sector's economic goals,
the function land fulfils, and the political and social system
play significant roles. The economic goal can vary from self
sufficiency and satisfying one's needs, maintaining the farm,
earning rent or interest on capital, production for the market,
maximizing profits, or meeting economic plans. In doing so,
land can function as a basis for earning one's livelihood,
home, means of production, a commodity, an asset, annuity,
power basis, or prestige object. Several functions can be
combined.
The above mentioned factors are not independent, but rather
are embedded within a system; that is, a change in any factor
results in a change in all of the other factors. The term"agrarian
system" bas been coined in order to conceptualize this
complex system. The "agrarian system" consists of
the "institutional, economic, socio-organizational, and
ethical patterns found in the agricultural sector and rural
areas that are oriented towards the superordinate economic
and social system" (RÖHM)
The following brief summary of the most important agrarian
systems is by no means exhaustive and stresses in particular
the most significant agrarian systems found in the developing
countries.
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