ABSTRACT
By fragmentation is meant the process of breaking up a single farm’s land into several small-sized and separated units. There has been a growing concern over the effects of this process on agricultural production, technological change and labour employment. This concern was expressed in the Middle East Conference of the Ministers of Agriculture held in Tunis in October 1976. They recognized the socio-economic importance of this problem and asked governments and their experts on the subject to undertake case studies in order to empirically identify the causes, effects and the scale of fragmentation. This field study was completed in six countries,1 which I was fortunate to visit in order to learn from their farmers, university analysts and government field staff. In this essay, I shall begin with a brief examination of the factors contributing
to the process of fragmentation over time, with an emphasis on the increasing population pressure on the declining arable land area and the religious inheritance rules. The magnitude of fragmentation will then be quantified, based on the findings of the six case studies and other sources. This is followed by an exploration of the economic implications. Before I conclude, a brief assessment of the remedial policy choice is made.
