Imperative Solutions to Sustainable Land Use under Private Land Ownership - A

Contrary to Theodore W. Schultz’s assertions that small farmers are rational, part-time farming is efficient, and economies of scale have no logical basis and have not stood the test of time and empirical findings, this paper presents that in (1) the low income countries still saddled with traditional agriculture, (2) the low income countries developing towards the high income economy, and (3) the high income countries, numerous able-bodied part-time and absent farmers earning higher off-farm income tend to inefficiently hold, i.e., under-utilize or idle, small (and often fragmented) farms without selling or leasing them to full-time (or active) farmers to achieve economies of scale which do have logical basis and have stood the test of time and empirical findings; and points out that this is a global problem unresolved under private land ownership in not only developing but also developed countries. Thus small farmers in so doing are not so rational to the societal and their fundamental interests. The paper also indicates that in the transitional countries in Central-Eastern Europe and Central Asia under private land ownership or possession many farmers voluntarily remain in collective land operation which perpetuates the low individual incentives just as under the public land ownership of the former centrally planned economy. The paper further analyses the dilemmas the EU has been facing in resolving food overproduction, reducing trade-distorting agricultural subsidies and tariffs, keeping small farmers in agriculture while strengthening large farmers and efficient land use. The paper thus proposes possible solutions on how to protect private land ownership, while transferring under-utilized land to full-time farmers; prevent the high costs of the traditional land consolidation, but still reaching its aims; keep part-time small farmers in agriculture, meanwhile bolstering full-time large farmers; avoid collective land operation, in the meantime benefiting from collective services; boosting EU enlargement but not adding burdens on the EU; retain noncereal agriculture on ecologically sensitive land, at the same time improving the environment and precluding food overproduction; reduce trade-distorting agricultural subsidies and high tariffs, whereas making full-time farmers viable and competitive; and promote off-farm activities, for the meantime reinforcing agriculture.