Land tenure management: A key determinant of sustainable farming in Martinique

For the past 15 years, the notion of sustainable farming has become a constant reference in defining rural development policies. For many years, "Sustainable farming" was limited to the reproducibility of eco-systems without considering social and economic factors. Yet, in Martinique, as in many other insular states in the Caribbean, control over the way farmland is managed is a prerequisite in defining any so-called Sustainable farming policy. The analysis of changes in the use of farmland shows that the inter-generational transfer of land is not assured: the usable agricultural area has decreased by 38% in less than 30 years, with, nevertheless, substantial spatial variations. In the same way, it appears that because of their size, more than 50% of farms are today economically not viable. In addition, different studies on fanning practices show that the land tenure structures of the farms may constitute an obstacle to the application of environment-friendly practices. To address this problem, many regulations-instruments-have been adopted and institutional bodies created in recent decades at different levels of local government. In spite of all these initiatives, and owing to lack of political will and the paradoxical attitudes of farmers and their representatives (who, "in the name of the farming profession," call for the preservation of farmland but whose interests at the individual level are to have their land developed to permit construction), most of these measures have not had the desired effect. In the last three or four years, new initiatives have been adopted (implementation of the control of land tenure structures and local-level planning for sustainable development). The future of agriculture in Martinique-and therefore its sustainability-will probably depend on the rigour with which these measures are applied.