Walker - 1967 - A geography of Italy

PART IV: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
but in the long term there is no alternative but to drain off surplus labour into
industry either locally or further afield.
The third main type o f large unit, generally referred to as the latifondo
capitalistico (despite its imdercapitalized nature), was identified until quite
recently with the Maremma, the Tavoliere di Puglie, Marchesato, the coastlands
o f Basilicata and parts o f the Sicilian interior. With its absentee owners it was
much criticized for its low yields, for its unenterprising methods, for its preoccupation
with a small range o f products (notably wheat, wool, wine and
olives) and above all for its inability to provide tolerable living standards for the
sharecroppers and labourers, whether local or migrant, on which the latifondo
depended. Even before the land reform o f 1950 (p. 191) the latifondo zones were
undergoing a change; where the land was capable o f improvement some progress
towards higher standards and greater diversity had been made, either by direct
state intervention or through the efforts o f comorzi di bonifica, and a steadily
increasing proportion o f the land was passing into the hands o f the peasantry.
The land reform has drastically accelerated this process and has brought home
to the large operators the need for a more responsible attitude towards the land.
In fairness it has to be admitted that in many o f the areas concerned, especially
where the main problem is water control, the necessary improvements were
beyond the resoiuces o f the landowners, and there are certainly vast tracts
where, because o f the adverse physical conditions, some form o f extensive
operation is imavoidable.
The output o f agricultural products is very vulnerable to the vagaries o f the
weather but over the period 1953-1963 the index showed a rise o f 22% ; over the
same period agriculture was responsible for a steadily declining proportion o f the
national income and exports. A summary of the land-use and crop areas for 1963
is given in table 10. Compared with 1953 there have been few major changes in
crop areas or in yields which cannot be attributed to the weather. Soft wheat, used
for bread and grown mainly in the more humid North, has tended to decline in
acreage but that o f hard wheat, used for pasta and confined largely to the South,
has remained roughly the same. Production is sufficient for the vast majority of
the country’s needs. The ubiquity o f wheat production and its cultivation on
marginal land have already received attention. Italy is Europe’s foremost producer
o f maize which is mainly fed to stock but is also used for hiunan consumption,
usually in the form o f pollenta, a Venetian speciality. It is best suited to
those areas with adequate summer rainfall or with irrigation facilities, notably in
the Northern Lowlands and to a lesser degree in Campania (fig. 48). American
hybrid seed, which produces double the yield o f Itahan varieties, accounts for
half the production and is grown mainly in the North. Rice, which is used as a
pioneer crop in the first stages o f marsh reclamation, is dechning in acreage
partly because o f the difficulty o f obtaining seasonal labour. It is now almost
entirely confined to Lomellina. Quahty and yields are very high and production
is sufficient to provide a modest export. The main leguminous fodder crops are
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