Walker - 1967 - A geography of Italy

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I
I
PART iv ; ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
administrations whose land reform and reclamation projects are intended to reinforce
the small proprietor class. Unfortunately most small family farms (including
some o f those created under the land reform) are incapable o f providing
an income comparable with those obtainable in modern industry and they will
have difficulty in achieving the efficiency which will be demanded in the near
future. Funds are available at low interest for those who wish to enlarge their
holdings by purchase, and over half a million hectares have been bought in
recent years, but the problem o f fragmentation, which is a serious handicap on
some 20% o f Italy’s farmed area, is practically insoluble for three-quarters o f the
area concerned. Co-operation can help in overcoming some o f the small farmer’s
difficulties but except in parts o f the Northern Plain, notably in Emilia, its
development has been slow. Under the fascists co-operatives were banned and
unless sponsored by the government they are still regarded with suspicion in
some quarters.
Not all Italy’s small farmers come under the heading o f coltivatori diretti;
about 12% o f the country’s productive area is worked under the system known
as mezzadria appoderata whereby an estate is divided into several compaa
holdings (poderi), usually o f between 5 and 15 hectares, each with its modest
farmstead. The landowner or his agent exercises a general supervision o f the
estate from the home farm (/ationa) and receives ‘rent’ from the mezzadri in kind.
A t one time the crops and the expenses were shared between landlord and
tenant on a 50/50 basis but recently the tenant’s share has been raised by legislation
to 58%. In fact contracts vary according to the contribution o f each party
but in general the landowner pays the taxes while other expenses (seed, fertilixers,
hire o f machinery, etc.) are shared equally. The success o f the system depends
much on the goodwill and enterprise o f the parties concerned. From the point of
view o f the mezzadro it has its advantages; he is assured o f at least part o f his
capital needs, and since it is usual for the peasant family to remain on the podere
year after year, permanent improvements and sound husbandry are encouraged
to the benefit o f both parties. Mezzadria appoderata is most widespread in
Tuscany, the Marche, Umbria and southern Emilia; it is also represented in
Veneto and the margins o f the Northern Plain, but it is rare in the South. O f late
the system has been attacked as an anachronism in a modem democratic state and
from 1965 onwards no new mezzadria contracts can be legally entered into. When
a podere falls vacant the landowner must either work the land himself with hired
labour if necessary, or he must sell or rent the land to someone who is prepared to
work it ‘directly’. The object o f this legislation seems to be either to convert the
landowner into a direct cultivator or induce him to sell out. The state is prepared
to advance funds at low interest to peasants who wish to purchase land but with
the prevailing uncertainty in agriculture it remains to be seen whether many
buyers will be forthcoming. The effect o f the new legislation may well be that
much land will go out o f cultivation.
Mezzadria appoderata should not be confused with the form o f mezzadria
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