Enhancing the contribution of land reform to Mexican agricultural development

The purpose of this paper is to consider whether the institutional factors associated with the Mexican land reform ( ejido ) sector constrain agricultural growth. Parting from the assumption that the ejido may be considered a more or less fixed element of Mexico's cultural and political scene, the paper focuses on the piecemeal changes that could help to enhance growth and productivity within the existing structure. The author finds no conclusive evidence that individual ejidos are significantly less productive than private farms, and hence, it seems unlikely that privatization of ejidos would greatly improve agricultural growth. He recommends the following improvements to the existing structure : giving the ejidatarios titles to their parcels of land, simplifying restrictions for private farmers on holding size and land use, ending restrictions on renting or sharecropping by ejidatarios, allowing ejidatarios to sell their land parcels to other members of their ejido, improving management of communal land, and extending credit directly to individual ejidatarios on the basis of their creditworthiness.