Original scientific paper

Agricultural Overpopulation

Rudolf Bičanić ; Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia - Yugoslavia

Abstract

The author discusses three different approaches to agricultural overpopulation: from the
consumption side, from the production side and from the aspect of immobility of agricultural
population.
In the first approach agrarian overpopulation is defined from the consumption point of
viewas the number of people living from agriculture that can live from aggregate agricultural
income at a certain standard of consumption. In this connection the problem of measuring
total agriculturai population, the aggregate consumption fund and the standard of
consumption are discussed. The conclusion is that overpopulation increases with the size
of the agriculturai population, the decrease of the consumption fund and the increase in
the standard of consumption.
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In the second approach, that of production, agricultural overpopulation is measured as the
number of people over a ce rtain standard number of population necessary to work the
land at a certain level of productivity. In this case only the agriculturally active population
is taken into account, and different measures of production are considered such as cultivated
area, crop mix, yield per hectare and productive capital. Agricultural overpopulation
increases with the number of agriculturally active population, with the decrease of the agricultural
volume 01' income from production, and with the increase of productivity of labour.
An example is given which shows that the agricultural overpopulation in Yugoslavia,
if French productivily of 1abour were reached, and Yugoslav yields set as the target,
would be eight million of total agricultural population, and if French yields per hectare
were to be achieved by the Yugoslav productivity of labour on the same area there would
be ashortage of 4.6 million agriculturai population.
In the third approach, that of agricultural overpopulation as immobility of the population,
the question is asked - if there is agriculturai overpopulation why do not people move to
other areas? The factors that keep them in equilibrium, i. e. immobile, are discussed in
four different groups: attractive endogene (puli in) factors, expulsive endogene (push out)
factors, expulsive exogene (pull out) factors; attractive exogene (pull in) factors. A synoptic
table of examplas of such factors is given regarding the following dimensions: demography,
natural resources, instrurnents of labour, employment, market and income, living
standard, institutional and developmental factors showing the complexity of the phenomenon
of agriculturai overpopulation.

Keywords

agriculturai overpopulation; measuring approach (consumption approach, production approach, immobility of the agricultural population approach)

Hrčak ID:

99587

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/99587

Publication date:

21.9.2003.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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