Technological Change and Distribution of Agricultural Land: The Case of Pakistan

It has been claimed in the literature that the Green Revolution technology by its very nature tended to increase the concentration of agricultural land in Pakistan [Alavi (1976); Falcon (1970); Gotsch (1973) and Khan (1985)J. The view has very important implications for the development of Pakistan’s agriculture. Agricultural land being the chief source of income in rural areas, a growing land concentration implies a continuous deterioration in the distribution of rural income. Empirical research has shown that productivity and labour input per acre are inversely related to farm size [Naqvi, Khan and Chaudhry (1989) and Chaudhry, Gill and Chaudhry (1985)J. As such, any increase in the size of agricultural holdings would be conducive to a slower growth of agricultural output and employment than would otherwise be the case. An increasing control of a productive resource like land by large and well-to-do fatmers would endow them with sufficient economic, social and political powers to frustrate any measures for the improvement of social welfare of the rural masses.