Sociology and Space, No. 61-62, 1978.
Original scientific paper
Land Holding and its Codsolidation
Radenko Stanić
Abstract
The farm, which had been the
basical value of the Yugoslav
agricultural history, has today lost
its meaning. The ownership of land
is to be considered under the new
conditions of transformation, in
relationship to the nature and
function of land ownership. The
majority of farmers are
decreasingly interested in even
owning the land, and do not intend
to widen their estates.
The expansion of the land
maximum presents no solution of
the agricultural and village
development in future. Today, the
agrarian pressure upon land is
diminishing and the market-value
of land is changing. In planes, the
best land is often the cheapest.
Nowadays, a tractor with all
machine equipment costs more
than 5 acres of flat land. A farmer will today not decide
himself for agriculture only on
basis of the size of his estate. The
number of acres is no more a
determinative factor for a farmer
to be successful. Today, the
question is, whether he is able to
utilize fully his land by
application of modern scientific
achievements. It is obvious that the
character of ownership is in many
ways changing. For a farmer’s
stability the ownership of land and
the size of an estate are less and
less important — mostly important
is how and in which way the
modern productional means of
labour are being applied. The farmer’s greatest wish is to be
treated as a worker working in
the field, so that on basis of
increased production and income
he can realize his constitutional
and legal rights like the workers
working in organizations of
associated labour.
For a farmer, his good fortune is
not »buried in the field«, but in the
new socio-economic position, which
is to be realized through the
increased labour production and
income. However, these changes in
the relationship towards ownership
are no product of consciousness
itself, but they emerge from the
total socio-economic development,
from results realized in agriculture
and from the totality of the village
transformation.
From the standpoint of agricultural
development, land consolidation
can enable easier cultivation
of land by means of mechanization,
and by more efficient machines.
Today, there are no known
scientific findings regarding the
advantages of more rational
application of mechanization, due
to less idling of machines, repeated
defects and breakings caused by
narrow plots, insufficient quality of
farming etc. The author stresses,
that land consolidation is to be
regarded from the point of view of
the consolidation of definite
cultures, and not just as a
measure for grouping of plots.
Through the realization of land
redistribution new spaces open for
further specialization in agriculture,
for the development of commodity
production and for the increase of
income of associated farmers.
Further on, land consolidation is a
condition for the development of
water-supply, forestry, road
networks and other fields of
activities. It is also useful from the
point of view of environment
protection. Land consolidation is, concludes
the author, in itself one of the
preconditions for more rapid
associating of farmers' labour and
means. If observed from this
point, it is significant as a
measure of further socializing of
agriculture and the development of
socialistic self-management
relations in agriculture and in the
village. It does not mean the
abolition of private ownership, but
it considerably changes the
character of ownership relations.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
119110
URI
Publication date:
12.12.1978.
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