Publication Date

4-1974

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

John Wassom, Kenneth Cann, Basheer Ahmed

Degree Program

Department of Economics

Degree Type

Master of Arts

Abstract

Under the traditional land system in Iran there was little possibility for an increase in the agricultural output or a raise in the standard of living for the rural population; the land reform of 1962 brought change in the land ownership and in water rights. A ten-year period of the land reform may be divided into two separate phases: the first, the land reform of 1962-68 and the second, land reform corelated with agrarian reform 1968-72. Phase one established some social and economic independency for Iranian farmers, but since the technology applied by farmers did not change, the agricultural output increased only slightly. In 1968, with the beginning of phase two and the establishment of the Farm Corporation, the government instigated large-scale production utilizing new technology. From 1968 to October 1972, forty-three farm corporations were established. It is too early to analyze the result of the farm corporations since the production potential will depend on the differences in location between them and in the availability of credit given to them. In general, however, production may be improved by placing more land under cultivation in some of the corporations and providing additional man-power to supplement the farmer share-holder in others. The number of Farm Corporation members with respect to the total number of Iranian farmers is considerably small, thus it may be necessary for the government to supply facilities which would make the small landholder more efficient, such as supervised credit and technology that is more labor-intensive due to the availability of cheap labor. Therefore, with adequate supply of market facilities, Iranian agriculture has hope for a prosperous future.

Disciplines

Economics | International Economics | Social and Behavioral Sciences

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