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The development model of industrialized societies is capable of producing huge quantities of wealth, but also has serious shortcomings when it comes to the equitable redistribution of its fruits and the promotion of growth in less developed areas.

While developed economies are not immune to this contradiction, it reaches particularly alarming proportions in developing economies. This can be seen in the persistence of the phenomenon of the misappropriation and concentration of land — that is that good which, given the predominantly agricultural nature of the economy of developing countries, constitutes the fundamental production factor, together with labour, and the chief source of national wealth.

In many developing countries, the ways in which agrarian policies have managed the export of agricultural production have often further encouraged the process of the concentration of land in the hands of the few.

In recent decades, various forms of economic activity based on the use of natural resources have steadily expanded into land traditionally occupied by indigenous populations. In most cases, the rights of the indigenous inhabitants have been ignored when the expansion of large-scale agricultural concerns, the establishment of hydroelectric plants and the exploitation of mineral resources, and of oil and timber in areas of expanding agricultural frontiers have been decided, planned and implemented

The history of many rural areas has often been marked by conflict, social injustice and uncontrolled forms of violence. The landowning élite and the large companies involved in exploiting mineral and forest resources have, on many occasions, not hesitated to establish a climate of terror in order to suppress the protests of workers who are forced to work at an inhuman pace for wages that often do not cover their travel and living expenses. Similar tactics have been used in order to overcome conflicts with small farmers who have been farming State or other land for a long time, or in order to take possession of land occupied by indigenous populations.

An agricultural structure marked by the misappropriation and concentration of land in latifundia acts as a major obstacle to a country's economic and social development. In the short term, it inhibits growth of agricultural production and employment, while in the long term, it causes poverty and waste, which tend to be self-perpetuating and to increase

Agrarian reform programmes must pay close attention to the decisive role of concerted action in the launching and development of the farm units created by redistribution of land. Anche se il documento fa riferimento al metodo del dialogo e concertazione, posso garantirvi che non l’ho scritto io. Provate a indovinare chi é stato...