Sz ERYTHREA - AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY IN GENERAL 



The new organization establishes that the lands of the domain must 

 always be alienable for the purpose of colonization, and prescribes that 2,000 

 hectares in the temperate zone of the high plateau be at once divided into 

 lots in order to provide for small grants, which may be of agricultural land, 

 of building sites, of land for industrial purposes, of mines or of land for spe- 

 cial objects. It would take too long to examine all these t^'pes of grants We 

 will confine ourselve to those for the purposes of agriculture and industry, 

 which merit our attention since thej^ are within the scope of this article and 

 are capable of most influence on the economic future of the colony. They 

 ma}^ be said to form the pivot of the whole land regime. 



Grants ha\dng an agricultural object may be made : a) to Italian cul- 

 tivators themselves directly exploiting the land granted to them; b) to 

 Italian cultivators provided with capital and personally managing their 

 farms ; c) to capitalists, societies of capitaHsts, legalh' constituted producers' 

 societies or other corporate bodies recognized bj' the law and_undertaking 

 an agricultural enterprise. 



Grants aiming at agriculture are of three kinds : two, corresponding to 

 those mentioned under letters a and b, emanate *rom the governor ; the third, 

 which corresponds to letter c from the royal power. *Those of the first kind 

 are absolutel}' free as regards a lot having the approximate area of 25 hec- 

 tares or one or more parts of such lot. When grants are sought within a radius 

 of less than five kilometres of an inhabited centre the}' cannot usually com- 

 prehend more than a quarter of a lot — 6.25 hectares. They can be granted 

 to Italian settlers (i) who cultivate them personally and have a capital 

 of at least 50 hras for each hectare they receive. At the end of five years they 

 become the grantee's absolute property' if he have fidfilled all conditions im- 

 posed on him. Grants of the second kind are made to Italian cultivators 

 who prove that they possess a capital of 100 liras for each hectare the}' receive 

 and who personally cultivate the land. The grant to them may not be of 

 more than 200 hectares or for a longer period than tliirty years. It is 

 conditional on their payment of an annual due fixed by the governor every 

 three years. If however the grantee fulfil all terms of the contract he may 

 after five years become absolute owner of the granted land when he has paid 

 a sum equivalent to the capital on which such annual due would be inte- 

 rest, at a rate previouslj' fixed by the governor. Grants of the second kind 

 cannot be made within a radius of less than ten kilometres of the chief 

 urban centres. 



While grants of the first and second kinds are made in the districts 

 having a temperate climate, those of the third kind affect essentially lands 

 having a torrid climate and are made to capitalists or societies of capitalists 

 for the purposes of industrial agriculture. Usually they may not be of more 

 than 10,000 hectares but exceptionally they may be of as much as 25,000 hec- 

 tares. The term of the grants is fixed at ninety-nine years but they may be 



(i) With the minister's special aiuhorizalion grants of the first ami si-cond categories 

 may even be made to foreigners. 



