AGRICULTURAL LAND CONVERSION

According to the article of Moya, P.F. Pingali, P.L. Masicat and P. Pabale, D.L.

the massive conversion of agricultural lands to industrial, commercial and residential

have resulted to the continual decline in productive agricultural land the main reason is

the rapid urbanization and industrialization of the provinces nearby Metropolitan Manila

and other cities of the Philippines. Rice area in Laguna decreased by more than 50

percent that is similar to Bulacan from 1971 to 1992. The formerly planted crops from

those agricultural land stated above are rice, sugarcane and coconut. (Moya, Pingali,

Masicat and Pabale 1994)

According to Ruel C. Limbo the Agrarian Reform Program Officer/OIC-Chief, the

act identifying how agricultural lands shall be used for non-agricultural uses such as

residential, industrial, commercial refers to the reclassification of agricultural land as

integrate in the land use plan. The Department of Agrarian Reform stated that changing

the current physical use of agricultural land into other use like building infrastructures

instead of cultivating the soil, planting crops, growing tress and including harvesting.

(Limbo 2017)

According to the study of Md. Abdul Halim1, Md. Mizanoor Rahman and Md.

Zahidul Hassan the rapid urbanization in the cities of Metropolitan countries have

experienced a huge increased to their population. This current situation increased the

demand for land that pushed the city to extend outward from their limit. As the

population and the growth of economy increases, the agricultural land usually converted

into non-farm products and services such as roads, markets, educational institutions,

electricity and industrial establishments. They also stated that there are different

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perspective of scholars about the definition of the term land use. For Ram and Kolakar

land use is a product of interaction between society’s cultural background, skill and its

physical needs, for Di Gregorio and Jansen 1998 define land use as a men’s activities

on land produced by people to maintain a land. Agricultural land defined by Kend and

other (1983) is a land where agriculture is being practiced, it denotes the land suitable

for agricultural production. Land Conversion is defined by Riebsame and other in 1996

that Conversion is a normal part of urban development in both developed and

developing world. Conversion means change to land use from agricultural to non-

agricultural or vice versa from non-agriculture to agriculture purposes. Riebsame, et al,

(1992) maintains, “The primary reason for the conversion is that under urban uses a

much higher rent is recovered. The conversion from one land use to another is the

activity most severely affecting terrestrial environments.

According to Joanna Gore ck a – Poznanska Scarcity of agricultural land and

world food frospects is due to the rapid industrial growth and urban development

affecting the agricultural land use as a whole. The agricultural qualities like topography,

location, fertility, climate, also make it suitable for other uses. The idea of growth and

belief in the power of technology are strongly embedded in the socialist countries that

lead them to convert agricultural land into something better indutrial. (Poznanska 1978)

Mohammad Rondhi , Pravitasari Anjar Pratiwi, and Vivi Trisna Handini stated in

their article that land is the most important aspect in life of every person. Economically,

land is the wealth generating asset for farmers and play an important role for economic

factor. The limited unrenewable nature of land creates competition between agricultural

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and non-agricultural land that gives rise to land conversion that significantly threatened

food supply because of agricultural land availability. (Pratiwi and others 2018)

Bibliography
a, J. G.-P. (July, 1978). Economic and Social Evaluation of Converting Agricultural Land to Non-
Agricultural Uses. 1,3-5.

Divine Odame Appiah, F. A. (18 March 2019). Perspectives on Agricultural Land Use Conversion and
Food Security in Rural Ghana. 1.

Limbo, R. C. (2017). Land Use Reclassification and Land Use Conversion in the Philippines: Inter-agency
complementations and overlaps. Agricultural Policy Articles, 1-2.

Md. Abdul Halim, M. M. (2013). AGRICULTURAL LAND CONVERSION IN THE SUB-URBAN AREA: A CASE
STUDY OF RAJSHAHI METROPOLITAN CITY. J. Life Earth Sci, 21-23.

Mohammad Rondhi, P. A. (30 November 2018). Agricultural Land Conversion, Land Economic Value, and
Sustainable Agriculture: A Case Study in East Java, Indonesia. 1-2.

Rika Harini, H. S. (December 2012). AGRICULTURAL LAND CONVERSION: DETERMINANTS AND IMPACT
FOR FOOD SUFFICIENCY IN SLEMAN REGENCY. Vol. 44, No.2 pages 121-122.