Kathmandu: Majority of farmers are still landless in a country where agriculture dominates the economy with 70 per cent of its population dependent on farming for the livelihood. The agriculture and farming contributes 35 per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP).

“Land reform does not only mean reducing the ownership ceiling but also how to make the land more productive,” said former minister Keshav Badal at an interaction programme organised by Centre for Constitution Dialogue (CCD).

“There is no way we can stretch out the existing quantity of land. That is why, total land has to be distributed in a manner that productivity of the land is increased along with ensuring social justice,” he said.

He pointed out that the private ownership of land provides incentives for the farmers to work harder and use the resources more productively.

He explained that the models that worked in geographically large countries such as America, Canada, Brazil, Russia and Australia where there is more than enough land for cultivation will not work in small country like ours that has limited arable land. We should look towards small East Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and Vietnam that have optimally utilised land reform policies for the economic and social development.

He commented that unscientific division of lands has created more problems.

“The land need to be classified based on the usage and stricter regulation has to be implemented so that agricultural land can not be used for housing or industrial purpose and vice versa,” he said, citing arable lands being used for building houses.

“Landlessness and rural poverty have made agricultural sector stagnant and affected the whole economy,” said Purna Bahadur Nepali, an expert in land reform.

“The concentration of land ownership is in limited hands and at the same time most of the land tillers do not own a scarp of land that has widened gap between rich and poor that can invite yet another conflict,” he added.

Ramesh Lekhak, CA member pointed out that the matter can not be sorted out till a decision regarding compensation is made. “Whether or not acquire the lands above ceiling by giving compensation and even if to provide compensation then by how much is the question,” he said.

Nepal’s efforts at land reform began with the enactment of the Land and Cultivation Record Compilation Act in 1956 when the government began to compile tenants’ records. Although these Acts facilitated land reforms, lot of small farmers did not benefit from this. The Agricultural Reorganization Act, passed in 1963, and the Land Reform Act-1964, emphasised security for tenant farmers and put a ceiling on land-holdings. There were several loopholes in the Acts. However, that allowed large land-holders to control most of the lands. As of 1990, average land-holdings remained small.

source: Himalayan News Service(2010),"Majority of farmers still landless",The Himalayan Times, 11 November 2010