Chile: the balanced view : a recopilation of articles about the Allende years and after

iii) Properties up to 80 basic irrigated hectares that have not yet been subjected to agrarian reform will be respected íf their exploítation is considered optimum according to established specifications. iv) Larger holdings may be voluntarily divided into economic units and soId on the land market, which will be fully reestablished according to proposals contained herein. In fact, a farm worker will be able to sell his family holding as long as it has not been divided. In addition, he may transfer his shares in an agricultural partnership or corporation under the same conditions -that is, as an indivisible package- or transfer his rights in a cooperative. This would be even more applicableto lands included in the abovethree categories, which by definition are holdings freely sold on the market. AII the measures outlined above will tend to give land its true economic value as a natural resource and productive factor. Thus, these measures will force the commercial exploitation of land by its owners, who will want to avoid ban'kruptcy. Polítical considera– tions aside, it might be technically and socially advísable to pass a law ending agrarian reformo b) Irrigation and new installations. Irrigation installations currently cover atotal area of 236,000 hectares, but they have not been used -that is, there is an enormous volume of idle capital invested in these facilities. The breadkdown of the total area is given below: Maule Norte Digua Paloma Bio-Bio Sur Cautín(various) Curacaví Coilhueco TOTAL Hectares 57,000 30,000 47,000 50,000' 35,000 11,000 6,500 236,500 The total cost of operating the irrigation facilities is estimated at $ 52 million, primarily in local currency. It is expe9ted that by 1976, 75 percent of the total area in the above chart will be supplied with water, and by 1978 theentire area will be supplied with water. Meanwhile, basic new irrigation works will be promoted. The present program of the Ministry of Public Works involves a total investment of $ 150 millibn in various works. To date, 20 percent of this sum has been invested. This makes it possible to state that by 1980 another 100,000-200,000 irrigated hectares will have been made productive, and there will have been progress toward making another 112,OOO~212,000 hectares productive. c) Changes in the use of land. This i(wolves an increase in cultivated area to eliminate the underutilization of resour– ces, a change from the extensive agriculture now practiced to a more intensive agriculture, and increasein the use of labor. Furthermore, assuming that the potential limits are reached, it is postulated that grazing lands covered with natural meadows wHI be incorpo– rated ¡nto farming, and a proportion of grazing lands and nonproductive soils will contri– bute area to meet forestry goals (for example, control of dunes and replanting of 55,000 hectares under the National Forestry Corporation's program of November 1973).· d) Technology. The need for an exhaustive agricultural research program and diffusion of modern agricultura! techniques has been established. Although they are not investments, the annual expenditures will be considerable. However, agricultural research can be financed basically by better use of resources al ready allocated to this area of the public agricultural sector, in whith many activities are useless or not very productive. e) Specific plans. 235