Land Use in Non-Affluent Countries as Determined by Social Infrastructure and Population Patterns

Tenure of land in most developing countries is predominantly communal, with a mixture of introduced systems of individual ownership. Since nations attained independence structural- changes have been made in order to introduce land reform. Countries are caught up in a dilemma of having to provide social justice and greater equity through land reform, but face increasing population and landlessness. For example, Lesotho's landless rural people increased from 7.2% in 1950 to 38.5% in 1987, and 17.2% are without land and livestock. Employment opportunities fall short of satisfying the labour mBrket. With limited land resources and high population pressure, rational and judicious use of the resource is imperative. Without all these social unrest can occur, Settlements expand into agricultural (crop) land and both of these encroach onto grazing land, Conflicts already exist as afforestation programmes get implemented. Crop and livestock farming do, however, also complement each other and therefore a decline in productivity of one has a negative effect on the performance of the other. Various strategies are under review by governments, in concert with relevant structures, in order to meet with these challenges.