Land is the most important productive asset in agrarian
\nsocieties such as Cambodia\u2019s. Throughout Cambodian history, land ownership
\nrights have varied with changes in government. In the period before French
\ncolonisation (pre-1863), when all land belonged to the sovereign, people were
\nfreely allowed to till unoccupied land and could cultivate as much as they
\nliked. With French colonisation, a property-rights system was introduced in
\n1884. After Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953, a Western-style
\nland ownership system continued until 1975, when the Khmer Rouge seized power
\nand eliminated all private property rights. Land ownership rights were
\nreintroduced in 1989, following the failure of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979
\nand ten years of unsuccessful collectivised production.\u00a0 Within ten years of the reintroduction of private
\nownership and the redistribution of land, land issues have become one of the
\nmost sensitive economic, social, and political issues in Cambodia, demanding
\nurgent solution. In the absence of comprehensive land-related data, this study
\nextensively analyses secondary data and primary data from four large-scale
\nsurveys to better understand the magnitude of current land issues.\u00a0 Based
\non this analysis, it appears that most of Cambodians own at least some land,
\nbut only a small proportion of the population has official land titles. Over 70
\nto 80 percent of the total rural population possesses agricultural land
\nacquired in different ways (government distribution, gifts from
\nrelatives\/friends, purchase, or clearance of unused land), but only 1 percent
\nhas legal title to their land. The
\naverage size of agricultural holdings in Cambodia is quite small (only about 1
\nhectare per family) and distribution is highly unequal. Female-headed
\nhouseholds generally have smaller holdings than male-headed households. About
\n40 to 50 percent of the landless and marginal landholders possess only about 10
\nto 15 percent of all agricultural land in rural areas. The estimated Gini
\ncoefficients of land concentration range from 0.47 to 0.66 for the different
\nsurveys that target different population groups. Even
\nthough only a very small proportion of the population has official title to
\ntheir land, people have been actively transferring land (their only productive
\nasset) on the market. Not only has private property changed hands, but also common
\nproperty, such as forestry and fishery resources (state property), has been
\nactively transferred to private use as concessions or for long-term investment.<\/p>\n
In the concluding chapter, the study draws
\nsome policy implications and proposes some suggestions for the improvement of
\nfuture studies of land issues. The suggestions include questions to be answered
\nin future research, as well as specific items to include in future survey
\nquestionnaires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Land is the most important productive asset in agrarian societies such as Cambodia\u2019s. Throughout Cambodian history, land ownership rights have varied with changes in government. In the period before French colonisation (pre-1863), when all land belonged to the sovereign, people were freely allowed to till unoccupied land and could cultivate as much as they liked. With French colonisation, a property-rights system was introduced in 1884. After Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953, a Western-style land ownership system continued until […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33157","publications","type-publications","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n