Deliberately unused farm fields

[Industrialized countries]

Farmers in many EEC/EU countries are paid to take land out of production because of agricultural surpluses. In the UK in 1993, farmers were paid £840 million in state aid for growing no crops. Up to 1.5 million acres is expected to be taken out of production by 1996.

[Developing countries]

Deliberate underutilization of land is practised by plantation owners who have a vested interest in securing as much available land as possible in order to withhold it from use and to ensure the dependence of local labour on the landowning class. Local workers are then obliged to work on the plantations on terms dictated by the landowners.