The Foundation for Economic Freedom warned that free distribution of land is not the solution to rural poverty.
The group of prominent economists issued the statement amid reports that the Philippine government had agreed to the demand of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines to provide free land for farmers as part of the ongoing peace talks.
“We believe that restrictions on rural land imposed by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law are what keep farmers poor and from raising their agricultural productivity. These restrictions include the prohibition to sell or mortgage the property within ten years from grant, prohibition to lease, and the prohibition to own more than five hectares of land,” FEF said in a statement.
FEF stressed that giving out free land will just be a populist measure similar to free irrigation and free cavan of rice without really solving the fundamental problem of Philippine agriculture: restrictions in the rural land market.
What the local agriculture needs, the group stressed, is to “provide the conditions for efficient farmers to introduce management, technology, and capital to farmlands by removing the restrictions on the rural land market.”
“We propose that agrarian reform beneficiaries be given unrestricted titles to their lands, instead of the collective Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs), that rob farmers of economic freedom and private initiative,” FEF said.