ABSTRACT
The paper begins with a brief explanation of the meaning of the terms contained in the title, as used in this essay. They are ‘reforming the land-tenure system’, ‘food security’, and ‘economic development’. This clarification intends to set the framework for understanding their linkage in the discussion that follows. To understand the meaning of land reform, we need to understand the
institution of the land-tenure system in the countries of the Middle East and its characteristics that need amendment by the state in order to enhance agricultural growth with redistribution of both the productive assets, especially land, and the shares in output value. The division of output value between owners and users of land is based on institutional arrangements established by law or custom or a combination of both. With regard to ‘food security’, its meaning as jointly established by FAO
and the World Health Organization (WHO) is secure access by the population to the food needed for the conduct of their active and healthy life. However, adequacy of food supply at the country level does not automatically mean household food security because some households are poor and have neither secure access to land for food production nor the means of purchasing the food they need. The adequate nutritional status of rural people (combined with good health conditions) determines their productivity and educational ability. Access to productive land is, therefore, necessary but not sufficient for farmers’ food security. This linkage brings us to the third concept, ‘economic development’, the
importance of which we all in this World Conference believe in for the countries of the Middle East, particularly those having a majority illiterate, lowincome rural population and which have recently gained independence from long colonial rule.1 We have witnessed, since the early 1950s, an emphasis in economic thinking on a process of development that is beyond the traditional narrow indicator (or objective) of sustained growth in both total product value (GDP) and real income per person. This post-1950 development thinking stresses: equitable income distribution; human capital development to realize its
potential; absolute poverty alleviation; and food security. It also emphasizes: (1) the active role of the government in the amendment of such market failures as land concentration in a few hands, monopoly powers in agricultural credit supply and marketing of farm products; (2) wider adoption of technology that is adequate to farming conditions in developing countries; and (3) effective participation of a large section of the agricultural labour force in rural development.2
