Los comuneros de Tola Chica, en Ecuador, resisten varios intentos de quitarles su tierra, pero esta lucha no impide que continúen con procesos internos de cohesión en los que la fiesta anual juega un papel importante.

Este trabajo, guiado y articulado por interrogantes, encuentra su razón de ser en un ejercicio para posicionar el razonamiento sobre agricultura familiar en una perspectiva comunitaria de la forma más holística que mi entendimiento pueda alcanzar.
 

El documento intenta explicar la relación entre política agraria, "frontera agrícola"/dinámica de colonización (y el rol de la coca en este proceso), relaciones de poder y desafios de la ciudadanía.

El modelo de desarrollo actual, basado en una economía libre, eficiente, competitiva y redistributiva y que ha realizado cambios relevantes en el saneamiento de las finanzas públicas, la estabilización macroeconómica y la modernización del aparato productivo, no ha dado los resultados esperados en cuanto al crecimiento de las economías de la región, que aún se encuentran muy por debajo de las expectativas del modelo.

ABSTRACTED FROM THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Myanmar’s agricultural sector has for long suffered due to multiplicity of laws and regulations, deficient and degraded infrastructure, poor policies and planning, a chronic lack of credit, and an absence of tenure security for cultivators. These woes negate Myanmar’s bountiful natural endowments and immense agricultural potential, pushing its rural populace towards dire poverty. This review hopes to contribute to the ongoing debate on land issues in Myanmar.

This paper attempts to contribute to the understanding of the impacts of secure rural agricultural land rights on labour structural transformation from agriculture to non-agriculture as well as on urbanization, with a specific focus on Thailand. Using province-level panel data and instrumental variable strategy, partial land right entitlement (known in Thailand as SPK4-01 titling) is found to have a positive impact on labour movement towards the non-agricultural sector. In particular, approximately 27 per cent of this impact can be explained by enhanced farm productivity.

Rural development and urbanisation are often seen as competing, but in most cases are intimately linked. It is essential that policies re? ect and support the many positive links between rural and urban areas, enterprises and people. This in turn requires a better understanding of urbanisation processes and the role of small towns.

More and more young people are leaving the rural areas and migrating to the cities. Although the industrial and the developing nations come from different starting points, such migration ultimately has the same effect on village life and the rural areas everywhere. In the industrial nations the agricultural population is ageing.

The early development strategies of both China and India were urban- and industry-focused, discounting the importance of rural development. Despite sweeping reforms in both countries, the urban bias and subsequent spatial disparities still exist today. In order to reduce poverty and increase growth, developing countries need to correct these spatial disparities through a set of policies that take advantage of the synergies and linkages between rural and urban areas.

The relationship between urban and rural areas has undergone great change in recent years. It is now often difficult to clearly define the borders between the two; instead we find a continuum ranging from agricultural zones to suburbs, informal settlements and urban centers. But do countries and development cooperation policies have the instruments needed to promote a dynamic and balanced development of urban and rural areas and open up opportunities for the people who live there?

Urbanisation and economic transformation - the growth of non-farm, industrial and service sectors - offer many opportunities for improvements in poor people's lives.The crucial challenge is to ensure that places work better for people, providing an enabling and supporting environment for changing livelihoods and economies. But all too often there is a failure to recognise and manage the urban transition, resulting in the continuing urbanisation of poverty, vulnerability and exclusion.

The handbook introduces key economic and related concepts explaining the functioning of urban land markets. By introducing key classical economic concepts, the handbook provides foundational economic terms that are often referred to in relation to urban land markets. In doing this, we do not imply that African land markets should or ought to 'fit' into neo-classical economic theories, nor do we propose that 'perfect' markets exist.