KARL Marx believed that peasants were a hindrance to capitalist development because of their survival mode of production. This means they only produce what they can consume. Marx theorized that if the peasant mode of production became dominant, there would be little surplus to finance industrial development.
KARL Marx believed that peasants were a hindrance to capitalist development because of their survival mode of production. This means they only produce what they can consume. Marx theorized that if the peasant mode of production became dominant, there would be little surplus to finance industrial development.
For Marx, the solution was to replace the peasant mode of production with a capitalist, or better a socialist, one to accelerate economic development. His contempt of the peasantry was so deep that it led another author, David Mitrany, to write a book about it titled “Marx Against the Peasants.”Marx’s teachings influenced a slew of thinkers in Russia during the early years of its socialist experiment. Anton Chayanov in “The Theory of Peasant Economy” noted that peasants produce only at a certain point where the level of “drudgery” is deemed acceptable. Beyond this point, marginal disutility of work rises and hence the return to labor significantly diminishes. Thus, there is no longer incentive to exert more effort.Marx and Chayanov’s views became very influential. Vladimir Lenin, leader of the socialist revolution in Russia and then succeeded by Josef Stalin, moved to deprive Russian peasants of their land and formed them into collectivized units. The state became the sole owner of all farmlands.The collectivization did not stop at lands owned by peasants. It covered even those owned by middle-class farmers who were highly productive as they acted as entrepreneurs supplying market needs. The kulaks resisted and as a result, many of them were brutally massacred and incarcerated.The Russian government’s move to get rid of middle-class farmers and collectivize farmlands proved to be a grievous mistake as it led to the downward spiral of agricultural production. Collectivized farms, being owned by the state, became grossly inefficient as workers knew they would be compensated regardless of their performance.In the same vein but within a different context, our agrarian reform program practically eliminated Filipino middle-class farmers because of its low land ownership retention ceiling. The ARP set the ceiling at five hectares for a couple tilling land and 3 hectares for an individual cultivator.The law was passed in 1988, and it resulted in the fragmentation of farmlands into miniscule sizes. The average farm size now is around 0.83 hectare. These small farms are incapable of becoming economically and financially viable despite massive subsidies from the government.The obvious solution is to encourage the emergence of middle-class farmers as a way of significantly raising agricultural productivity. This class of cultivators is better educated, has access to capital, can afford to buy and adopt modern farm technologies, and most importantly, love farming as a way of life and not because of the pressure to survive.A good model of a middle-class farmer is Exequiel “Quiel” Lampa, whom I recently met in a forum where I served as one of the speakers. Quiel is a former executive of a large pharmaceutical company who led its operations in a number of Southeast Asian countries.After retirement, he bought land from his siblings in Tarlac that his father used to till as a means of supporting the family and the kids’ education. Quiel was able to consolidate 4 hectares of irrigated lands for palay farming.Being a top-notch accountant and former executive, Quiel sought the assistance of a reputable seed company to ensure that he used the right palay seed and technology to maximize harvests. He also wanted to show neighboring farmers the proper way of raising palay and hopefully be able to influence them to form a cooperative. As a company guy, he knew that being “small is not beautiful.” There is no way that economies of scale can be achieved at the production and marketing levels if farmers remain small and divided.For his first harvest, Quiel obtained a yield of 5.5 metric tons per hectare in September 2024 . For his second planting during the dry season, he got 6.5 MT per hectare in March. Note that the average yield in the Philippines is 4.3 MT per hectare.As he does not have drying and milling facilities, Quiel sold his harvest to traders at P20 per kilo in September but the price plummeted to P16 per kg in March. He calculated that if the production cost of an average palay farmer was P13 per kilo , he should be selling at P20 per kilo to stay afloat.Assuming that a tiller just owns 2 hectares of land, plants palay two times a year and receives P20 per kilo, Quiel estimated that the farmer would net only P140,000 per year — far from a decent income. He also noted that he had advanced all working capital, unlike the ordinary farmer who has to borrow from traders who charge usurious rates.When I asked whether raising the land retention ceiling to 10 hectares would result in an economically and financially viable business, he flatly said no because it would only provide an income of P540,000 per year. He countered that it would have to be around 50 hectares to make palay farming a viable venture. As a finance expert, he said there was little incentive to engage in farming. Not only are the returns low, there are so many uncertainties like the vagaries of nature.When I asked why he still ventured into palay farming, Quiel responded: “My father was a farmer who supported all his kids to become successful professionals doing this back-breaking work of tilling the land. I want other farmers in my community to do the same for their children by showing the proper way of achieving a successful agriculture venture.”Undeniably, middle-class farmers like Quiel possess the capital, education, access to market, and more importantly, love for the vocation that are badly needed to develop our agricultural sector. It is up to the government whether it would like more entrepreneurial farmers like him to participate in the task of making our rural areas into progressive communities, or merely consign our small farmers to poverty and our agricultural sector to underdeveloped status in perpetuity.fdadriano88@gmail.com
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