Agrarian systems and rural development.

This volume is the outcome of research carried out under the World Employment Programme of the International Labour Office; its purpose is to analyse the performance of different forms of organisation and institutions in promoting rural development. The nine case studies included in the book can be divided into three broad categories of agrarian systems: the system of individual farming (in South Korea, India and Bangladesh) carried out under private ownership of land and other means of produc tion; at the other end of the spectrum, the system of communal farming carried out under collective ownership of land which is studied with reference to the experiences in China, Soviet Central Asia and Cuba; finally, an intermediate category which includes Guyana and Tanzania (countries in which collective and private ownership of land and means of production coexist) and Egypt (in which the state regulates certain aspects of agriculture through a comprehensive system of supervised co-operatives).

The performances of the alternative systems have been evaluated on the basis of a number of common criteria, viz. productive efficiency, generation of adequate employment and egali tarian income distribution and the generation of surplus to sustain self-reliant growth. In each case the role of public policy in promoting the actual outcome in terms of the above criteria has been discussed. Finally, the conditions of successful performance under each system of organisation have been analysed.

The studies, prepared by specialists with long and wide-ranging experience of the questions discussed and based on extensive field investi gations, will provide valuable insights into the problem of organising agriculture, usually the overwhelmingly dominant and difficult sector in most developing countries, for economic and social development.