PEASANTS & FARMERS

• Peasant


  A pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord
• Farmer


  A person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials
• Three estates in medieval European society


  • Oratores ("those who pray")
  • Bellatores ("those who fight")
  • Laboratores ("those who work")
• The Annales School of 20th-century French historians emphasized the importance of peasants
• Peasant vs Farmer distinction

  Political rather than scientific
• Social reformers recognized the plight of rural populations facing poverty, exploitation, and inadequate social services
• The Cooperative Extension Service in the early 20th century US aimed to disseminate agricultural knowledge and improve rural livelihoods
• Social workers engaged with peasant and farming communities to address systemic issues such as land tenure, environmental sustainability, and rural poverty
• Classes of peasants in Europe


  • Slaves
  • Serfs
  • Free Tenants
• Slaves


  The ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage
• Serfs


  The status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery
• Free Tenants


  Also known as free peasants, were tenant farmer peasants in medieval England who occupied a unique place in the medieval hierarchy. They were characterized by the low rents which they paid to their manorial lord
• Peasant vs Farmer


  A peasant reflects an agricultural labourer who is very poor and occupies the lower level of social hierarchy. A farmer designates a man who works on agricultural land or owns farmland
• Types of peasants/farmers based on land ownership


  • Maliks (have land ownership document)
  • Kisans (cultivate land but don't own ownership document)
  • Mazdoors (agricultural laborers)
• Types of peasants/farmers based on land holding size


  • Rich Peasants (more than 15 acres)
  • Small Peasants (between 2.5 and 5 acres)
  • Marginal Farmers (less than 2.5 acres)
  • Landless Peasants (earn livelihood as manual laborers)
• Peasant farmers produce approximately between 55 percent and 75 percent of the world's basic foods
• Peasant farmers use only 25 percent of water and energy resources compared to corporate agriculture
• Struggles faced by peasant/farmers


  • Land Access and Ownership
  • Economic Inequality
  • Lack of Infrastructure
  • Climate Change
  • Government Policies
• Peasants/subsistence farmers comprise one of the most marginalized sections of society
• Agrarian reform programs have not improved the situation of peasants
• Private corporations are preferred over peasants on the use of land
• Support services including infrastructures such as irrigation systems and farm-to-market roads do not reach peasant areas
• Government administrative and judicial processes are too slow and too late in bringing relief to the suffering of peasants
• National economic policies tend to go against the interests of peasants
• RA 7607 (Magna Carta of Small Farmers)


  A law aimed at improving the lives of the small farmers by empowering them and harnessing their potentials and abilities
• RA 3844 (Agricultural Land Reform Code)


  A law to ordain land reforms in the Philippines, including the abolition of tenancy and the channeling of capital into industry
• RA 11901


  A law strengthening the financing system, including capacity-building and organization for agriculture, fisheries, and rural development in the Philippines
• Agricultural Tenancy Act of the Philippines of 1954 (RA 1199)


  A law to establish agricultural tenancy relations between landholders and tenants upon the principle of "social" justice; to afford adequate protection to the rights of both tenants and landholders; to ensure an equitable division of the produce and income derived from the land