Intervention report: Agricultural land redistribution

Abstract

Agricultural land redistribution is a type of agrarian reform in which large farms are broken up and distributed to tenants or landless peasants. Land redistribution typically requires exceptional circumstances to succeed. Past redistributive efforts have been most successful in the aftermath of revolution, war, or independence. When redistribution has succeeded, it has been accompanied by extensive agricultural support, such as rural infrastructure development, subsidies for fertilizers and high-yield seeds, agronomic training, and cheap credit. The main value of redistribution appears to be improved agricultural yields, but redistribution is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for improved yields. The exact mechanism by which redistribution improves yields is unclear. Redistribution creates smaller farms, and there’s some evidence that smaller farms have higher yields. (A common theory to explain this is that small landowners face better incentives than landless tenants, so they provide more labor and invest more in improving yield.) However, it’s also possible that redistribution in isolation provides little benefit to yields. Recent evidence suggests either a U-shaped or flat relationship between yields and farm size, suggesting that consolidation could be as attractive an option (for improving yields) as redistribution. There appear to be no large and reputable NGOs that advocate for radical land redistribution. NGOs that promote tenure reform (another type of land reform) might be convinced to advocate for redistribution. Our weakly held belief is that South Asia is the best region to pursue land redistribution. We believe that advocating for agricultural land redistribution is unlikely to be a cost-effective intervention and very intractable.