ABSTRACT

A clear-cut distinction must be made at the start. We are dealing with redistributive land reform that transfers private property rights from big (mostly absent) landowners to poor peasants and landless workers. It is a strong demonstration of political commitment to use efficiently agricultural resources, attack directly rural poverty, and to ensure food security for the rural poor. In this paper, we first outline the institutional barriers blocking the rural poor

from entry to the land and credit markets and their inequality consequences. We then offer possible explanations for the current declining concern for redistributive land reform observed in the post-1980 period. The paper ends with a suggested role that can be played by the members of the Development Studies Association (DSA) in reviving academic and political interest in the subject, amidst the present euphoria about the renewed faith in the market that has made land reform a non-issue and stressing growth without redistribution.