Recent FAO experiences in land reform and land tenure

Brief summary of FAO’s experience in agrarian reform and the most relevant activities of the current programme related to this field. It argues that the type of agrarian reform that considers the redistribution of land from the rich to the poor either through confiscation or through pre-emptive buyouts belongs to the past. However, this does not mean that Member Nations have stopped seeking ways to improve access to productive resources (land, water, etc.) as a cornerstone to their rural development policy. Indeed, there is now an increasing demand from Member Nations for assistance in exploring ways of accomplishing the rural development goals of agrarian reform within the policy framework of economic and political liberalization. Therefore, FAO gives great importance to establishing an efficient network on the subject as part of its programme development in follow-up activities to the World Food Summit. [author]