Social Capital, Land Use Systems, and Peasants Cooperative Production

This article initially probes the history of land exploitation systems in the Karkhe dam watershed basin. It then proceeds to examine the relation between social capital and development from theoretical point of view. In this survey study, a sample population of 375 families, in 49 villages, is studied in various land exploitation systems, measured by the indexes of social capital. The two systems of peasant family farming and cooperatives production, from collective’s activities point of view such as social participation, innovativeness, cooperation, tendencies to collective cooperation, are examined. The results show that participation, norms of reciprocity, innovativeness, and efficiency in cooperative systems are significantly higher than those present in the peasant family farming.