Chapter 3

COUNTRYSIDE AND LAND TENURE

SYSTEM

Chapter Outline

 What is Countryside?
 Historical Background
 Key Figures of Countryside
 Land Tenure (Land Ownership
System)
 Meaning of Land Tenure
System
 Land Tenure before Partition
(Land Tenures under British
Rule)
 Importance of Land Tenure
 Types of Land Tenure
 Dominant Systems of Land
Tenure in Pakistan
 Problems of Land Tenure
System in Pakistan
 Major Agricultural Problems in
Pakistan
 How to Improve Agriculture
Sector
 Conclusion
What is Countryside?
Before studying land tenure system, it is necessary to understand concept of countryside and its
relationship with land tenure system. Simply countryside refers to the rural area that is located outside
towns and cities. The rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Moreover
agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are described as rural. Historically, the concept of
countryside has very close link with colonialism and land tenure system.

 The countryside is land which is away from towns and cities.

 The land of rural areas outside the cities and towns is called countryside which includes fields,
forests etc.
 Countryside refers to non-urban areas having small settlements and large farmlands. People
living here often get involved in agriculture. Some raise domestic animals to get benefits and
do small business.

Historical Background
On 12 August 1765, the East India Company became the Diwan of Bengal appointed by the Mughal
ruler. They had the power to make rules on revenue collection and rural administration. The East
India Company mostly settled the countryside to increase revenue sources. By the end of the 18th
century, the company was trying to expand opium cultivation. Land tax was a major source of income
for kings and rulers since ancient times. However, the pattern of land ownership has seen changes
over the centuries. During the monarchy, land was divided into Jagirs, Jagirs were allotted to
Jagirdars, these Jagirdars divided the land they got and allotted it to subordinate Zamindars.

Key Figures of Countryside

During the colonial period, the important figures in the countryside were the zamindars, rajas,
talukdar, jotedars, ryots, and shifting cultivators. Let us briefly discuss these terms.

1. Zamindar: The zamindars were landlords who collected rent from the peasants and paid
revenue to the Company. Zamindars were responsible for collection of land revenue and
depositing the same to the Company. They lived life of comfort and luxury.
2. Jotedars: During Company rule in India rich peasants often owning large farmlands. They
often controlled money lending and trade at local levels. Sometimes village headman was also
called Jotedar.
3. Taluqdars: Taluq means piece of land and dar mean owner. In this way, taluqdar mean the
owner of piece of land. Taluqdar were aristocrats who formed the ruling class during the Delhi
Sultanate, Bengal Sultanate, Mughal Empire, and British Raj.
4. Mahals: Estates owned by big Zamindars who were called Raja locally.
5. Raja: It is the term for Monarch but often refers to the big Zamindars in their respective local
areas.
6. Ryot: means peasants or cultivators. While zamindars were landlords, raiyats were tenants
and cultivators, and served as hired labour.
Land Tenure (Land Ownership System)
Rural areas are based on agriculture and are considered the backbone of any economy. During
colonialism, the British needed to increase revenue from all over the subcontinent. It was also not
possible to collect maximum revenue from every part of the subcontinent, so the British introduced
different land tenure systems. The land tenure system determines who can use what resources for
how long, and under what conditions.

Meaning of Land Tenure System

The word “tenure” is derived from the Latin word “TENU” which means holding of real estate or
conditions of occupying or possession.

Land Tenure before Partition (Land Tenures under British Rule)

Land tenure systems existed under British Rule, which are mentioned below:

Zamindara System

The Zamindara System (also known as the Permanent Settlement System) was introduced by Lord
Cornwallis in 1793 under his Permanent Settlement Act. It was introduced in the provinces of Bengal,
Bihar, and Orissa. The system recognized the zamindars as landowners who then let out their lands
to tenant farmers in return for a share of the produce. The three major components of the Zamindari
System were British, Zamindar (Landlord), and peasants. The zamindar, in turn, had to pay a fixed
amount to the British Government. This led to a lot of exploitation of the peasants. In this system,
Zamindar played the role of middleman.

Key Points of Zamindari System

 Zamindars were recognized as the owner of the lands. Zamindars were given the rights to
collect the rent from the peasants, so the actual farmers became tenants.
 The tax was to be paid even at the time of poor yield.
 The tax was to be paid in cash.

Ryotwari System

The term Ryot originates from the Hindi-Urdu word ra-iyat and the Arabic word ra-iyah, translated as
group or peasants. Captain Alexander Read developed the Ryotwari system in 1820. Under this
system, the peasants, farmers, or cultivators had rights over the land, and the tax was directly
collected by the government from the peasants. This system was in operation for nearly 5 years and
had many features of the revenue system of the Mughals. It was directly imposed on the ryots
(peasants) through agreements; the rate was 50% in dry lands and 60% in the wetland.

Key Points of Ryotwari system

 In ryotwari system the ownership rights were handed over to the peasants directly. So, British Government
collected taxes directly from the peasants.
 The revenue rates of the Ryotwari System were 50% where the lands were dry and 60% in irrigated land.
 The advantages of this system were the elimination of middlemen, who oppressed the villagers.
Mahalwari System

Holt Mackenzie introduced the Mahalwari system in 1822, and it was revised under Lord William in
1833. Mahal means village or a group of villages or estates owned by big zamindars that were called
Raja locally. This system was implemented in the North-West Frontier, Agra, Central Province,
Gangetic Valley, Punjab, and other areas. Under the Mahalwari system, the land revenue was
collected from the farmers by the village headmen on behalf of the whole village. In this system, the
land revenue was collected by the village headmen, and it was not fixed. The peasants were the
owners of the land, and every peasant had to give his share of the revenue. This system was a
modified form of the Zamindari system because the village headman virtually became a Zamindar.

Importance of Land Tenure

The importance can be explained as under.

1. Food Security and Poverty Alleviation: Land tenure system is essential for food security and
poverty alleviation, it also helps to build assets and promote independence of poor people by
introducing strategies through development institutions and organizations.
2. Eradication of Hunger: The land tenure system plays a key role in eradicating hunger by
increasing access to food for a person or family. People who have extensive rights to land
generally can enjoy a more sustainable livelihood than those who have only limited rights to
land.
3. Locating Actual Owner: The land tenure system prevailing in the country helps to locate the
actual owner of the land by the government. Locating owners of land is important for
recovering land revenue and also for implementing agricultural development programs.
4. Development of Agriculture: The land tenure system helps a cultivator to establish rights of
ownership of land by farmers. This would help the farmers to establish a link between the
cultivators is the government. The land tenure system makes the ownership of land more
secure and permanent, which is very important for the development of agriculture.

Types of Land Tenure

Land tenure is often categorized as:

1. State Land Tenure: In this system of land tenure, the land is owned by the state itself. The
public may gain benefits from this system public cannot own this land. Property rights are
assigned to some authority in the public sector. For example, grazing lands, on the banks of
rivers, canals, rivers, the whole land, different deserts and forests, and small or big patches of
land are included in this category. The government can use this land itself. It is controlled by
itself or land can be given on lease.
2. Private Land Tenure: In this system huge patches of land are owned by a private party. It
may be an individual, a married couple, a group of people, or a corporate body such as a
commercial entity or non-profit organization. The land owner gives land on rent through an
agreement. British introduced this system.

Dominant Systems of Land Tenure in Pakistan

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Pakistan, land is
either owned or rented. 78% of the holdings are owned, 14% are rented and the remaining ones are
under more than one form of tenure. The Government owns about 0.15% of the total land area. 50%
of farmers are owner-operators and 26% are pure tenants.

Problems of Land Tenure System in Pakistan

 The land tenure system is imperfect and created a large number of economic and social
problems in Pakistan.
 It has given birth to absentee landlords who lived in post colonies. The landlord gets their
share without making provision of efficient use of land.
 The cultivators are exploited by the land lords due to high rents and insecurity of the tenure.
 Landlord is a sleeping partner and takes no interest in land utilization.
 Landlords give small units of cultivation to tenants where modern implements of agriculture
cannot be used.

Major Agricultural Problems in Pakistan

Agricultural sector is the backbone of our economy. But the growth of agriculture in Pakistan is facing
a lot of problems. Due to various causes, per acre crop is very low in Pakistan as compare to other
developed countries. Agricultural problems of Pakistan can be categorized as under:

1. Water Categorization: Water categorization refers to a situation in which the soil in a

particular region is completely saturated with water. It also refers to rendering the soil
unproductive and infertile due to excessive moisture. It can have several causes, including
over-irrigation, excessive rainfall, flooding, and poor drainage.
2. Salinity: Salinity is a major issue affecting farm productivity all over the globe. The salinity
refers to the concentrations of salts in water or soils. Due to salinity, deposits of salt in the land
have appeared on the surface of the land and they have harmfully affected the performance of
the agricultural sector.
3. Limited Cultivable Area: The total area of Pakistan is about 79.6 million hectares, out of
which only 23.7 million hectares (28%) area is used for agricultural purposes. About 8 million
hectares area is unable to use.
4. Low per Hectare Production: The most important problem of agriculture is its low crop per
hectare for almost every major crop. 45.0% of labour force is engaged in this sector in
Pakistan while it is less than 5% in developed countries.
5. Slow growth of allied products: Allied products refer to those productions, which are not
agricultural but indirectly, help the farmer to improve his living standard. Pakistan is insufficient
in the production of fruits, milk, poultry, fisheries, livestock and forestry. It also causes
backwardness of agriculture.
6. Poor Infrastructure: Rural infrastructure like, roads, transport, electricity, education, sanitation
and health facilities etc. are poor to meet the requirement of growth of agriculture. Many
villages have no metalled road or electricity at all.
7. Inadequate Agricultural Research and Institutes: Unluckily, agricultural crop in Pakistan is
very low as compared to developed countries. Moreover there is a lack of institutes like
agricultural universities and colleges.
 8. Division of Lands: With the passage of time, due to increase in population division of land
under the law of inheritance, landholdings are subdivided over and over again. The result is
that very large number of farmers has less than 2 hectares of area.
9. Lethargic Old Fashioned Methods of Agriculture: mechanization can play a vital role to
increase agricultural production. But unfortunately, in most of the areas, the old implements
are still being used for agricultural production. So, agricultural production is very low.
10. Insufficient Supply of Agricultural Inputs: The supply of modern inputs like high yielding
variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, automatic machinery etc. not only costly
but also short and irregular in Pakistan.
11. Lack of Irrigation Facilities: Moreover, lack of irrigation facilities causes a serious limitation in
the expansion of crop area in Pakistan. Actual surface water availability is 91.8 million acre
feet.
12. Improper Crop Rotation: The constant cultivation of one crop or two; finishes the fertility of
the soil. Proper rotation of crops is necessary in order to restore the fertility.
13. Lack of Land Reforms: There is a lack of land reforms in Pakistan. There is an urgent need
to conduct a proper land reform for improving agricultural growth.
14. Defective Land Tenure System: Defective land tenure system is also responsible for low
yield per acre in agricultural sector. Landlords and feudal-lords live in posh urban areas while
tenants and peasants have no or less incentive for their hard work.
15. Unfavorable Climatic Situations: Agriculture growth is dominated by nature. In case of too
much rain or shortage of rain leads to a reduction in productivity. There is a 20% reduction in
productivity due to unnecessary rain and unfavorable climatic situations in Pakistan.
16. Variety of Plant Diseases: Various agricultural crops like cotton, sugarcane, tobacco, wheat
and rice often come under attack of pests and insects. Pests and plant diseases reduce the
annual productivity of agriculture.
17. No Utilization of Land: Mostly poor population is attached with agricultural sector in Pakistan.
Our farmer is not interested to use the advanced and modern means of farming, as a result
area under cultivation remains underutilized, unutilized or misutilized.
18. Litigation: There are frequent and continuous litigations among the farmers directly or
indirectly. They are often seen in courts, police stations, irrigation offices, revenue boards and
other official problems.
19. Joint Family System: Our farmer is poor; on the other hand he has to support his big family. It
creates deficiency in saving and investment. A huge part of farmer’s productivity is consumed
at his own house.
20. Illiteracy: Most of the farmers, labourers and tenants in our country are illiterate. They are
untrained and inefficient to boost up the agricultural productivity.
21. Political Instability: Unfortunately, the political situations in Pakistan are not stable. It creates
unrest among the farmers to sell the productions to various industries as a raw material.
22. Financial Problems: Unfortunately, financial position of Pakistani farmer is weak and poor.
According to Pakistan Human Development Report 2023 about 57.4% poor are working for
feudal-lords without wages.

How to Improve Agriculture Sector

Following measures are suggested to improve the agricultural sector.
 1. Water Logging and Salinity Control: Water logging and salinity has reduced our cultivable
area. For this purpose, installation of tube wells, repair of canal banks and drainage of water
etc. are needed. The Ministry of Agriculture proposed to invest Rs.18.5 billion with the
objective of converting 2, 00,000 acres of irrigated land to drip and shower irrigation system.
2. Construction of Dames: Sometimes, due to heavy unwanted rains and floods agricultural
productivities destroys. To tackle this problem it is necessary to construct dames and bands on
rivers.
3. Agriculture Credit: Poor farmers cannot afford the expensive technology from their own
resources in Pakistan. So, supply of agriculture credit at easy terms and conditions is very
necessary.
4. Provision of HYV seed: High yield Variety seed is not available at suitable price in Pakistan.
So, farmers have to depend upon low quality of seeds that causes 20% reduction in total
production. Government should provide HYV seed at minimum price in this case.
5. Mechanization: Farm mechanization is crucial to improve agriculture sector. Sowing,
cultivation and harvesting of crops through agricultural machines increase the productive
quality and quantity.
6. Establishment of Agricultural Research Institutes: Agricultural research is compulsory to
remove the backwardness of agriculture sector. Government should increase the research
work in the field of agriculture.
7. Establishment of Agro-Based Industries: Agro-based industries like poultry, fisheries, dairy
and livestock should establish. These industries indirectly lead to improve the agricultural
sector
8. Tax Concessions: Mechanization is necessary to remove the problems of agriculture sector.
Government should give tax concession on imports of agricultural technologies to enhance the
process of farm mechanization.
9. Training of Farmers: Our farmers are illiterate and ill trained so, their efficiencies are poor.
Government should start special education programme for farmers and give them training
about farming.

Conclusion
Being an agrarian country, agricultural sector of Pakistan’s economy is still backward. Use of modern
techniques, provision of credit facilities, basic infrastructure and agriculture research facilities are
needed to remove all the problems of agriculture sector.