815 



to the cities in search of work. Unless they find it, they are forced to 

 live in shacks and slums, adding to the potential for revolutionary 

 agitation. Even if the displaced peasant finds work, housing shortages 

 may compel him to live in appalling conditions. The consequences of 

 involuntary urbanization are a major problem for many of the devel- 

 oping countries. The toppling of the Ayub Khan government in Paki- 

 stan by urban riots was an example doubtless lost neither on other 

 LDC governments nor on would-be revolutionaries. Obviously the 

 governments of the LDCs face the need to find constructive ways of 

 dealing with this problem. 



Although the outlook seems gloomy, it also contains elements of 

 hope. There is some evidence that the growing urbanization of the 

 LDCs is not as destabilizing as has commonly been assumed.^' Also, if 

 mechanization is employed selectively it can actually create jobs rather 

 than terminate them. Taiwan has been singled out as a good example 

 of how selective mechanization, combined with intensive land use, Cre- 

 ates jobs. (However, selective mechanization must be carried out as 

 part of a wide range of economic policies which permit industrializa- 

 tion and agricultural modernization to go forward together, if it is to 

 result in a rise in agricultural employment. Even then, it is difficult 

 to see agriculture as providing employment for a vastly increased 

 population. ) 



Perhaps the most important action the governments of the LDCs 

 can take to sustain the momentum of the Green Revolution is to move 

 promptly and effectively either to pass land reform legislation or to 

 implement legislation already enacted. The peasant farming his own 

 land is more likely to have the incentive to maximize production than 

 if he is merely a tenant on a large estate. Indeed, countries where land 

 is widely distributed can be shown to maintain a better agricultural 

 performance than those where land is concentrated in a few hands.^^ 



However, there is a dilemma facing the LDCs which want to 

 press forward with land reform. Large estates, if efficiently run, may 

 prove better suited to putting the new techniques into practice on a 

 large scale, just as they are better adapted to take initial advantage 

 of these techniques. It is Lester Brown's view, however, that farm 

 size is not as important as Western analysts often rate it in evalu- 

 ating agricultural efficiency.'^^ Japan and Taiwan^ each with farms 

 averaging less than three acres, are among the leaders in agricul- 

 tural development. Selective mechanization, combined with the es- 

 sentially free input of family labor, can render the small farms as 

 as efficient as the large ones. 



Actually, the choice need not lie between large and small farms. 

 Alternative measures have already been adopted in some LDCs. 

 One such measure is joint or consolidated farming, where farmers 

 voluntarily band together to get both the advantages of intensive 

 family farming and the economies of larger scale operations. In 

 Malaysia, for example, this type of farming is practiced because 

 water management is effective only on a multifarm basis. Barbara 



'" See Joan M. Nelson, "Migrants. Urban Pwerty, and Instability in Developinp Na- 

 tions." Occasional Papers in International Affairs. No. 22, Center for iHternational Affairs. 

 (Cambridge, Harvard Ijniversity. 1969), 83 pages. 



■"" Brown, "Seeds of Change," op. cit.. page 111. 



'» Ibid., page 113. 



