Possibilities for the economic reorganization of minifundia in a highland region of Colombia

These people, the landless worker and tenant families and those who own "sub-family" size farms, constitute two-thirds of the rural population; operate 57 percent of the agricultural land, but own only 6 percent of it. This study specifically examines possibilities for increasing agricultural production and improving family levels of living on peasant farms in a highland region. The community development program itself is failing because it has not improved the basic relationships between the dominant groups and the masses of the community. The land tenure system has a wide diversity of arrangements; most of the minifundia are not independent units. A practically universal division of labor exists between the sexes; most hired labor is part-time. In general the peasant farmers are not being greatly benefited by private and governmental programs which give priority to projects in the urban areas and to large commercial farms. A successful reorganization of the minifundia must include intense efforts to improve management and technology on the small farm and increase productivity.