Land Acquisition and Compensation Policy for Development Activity

Development policy focuses on creation of economic opportunities which increase the demand for transferring land from primary to secondary or tertiary activities. Market mechanism is sufficient argument of distributive justice for land acquisition for development activities, but it ignores income security. Landowners are heterogeneous in terms of knowledge, skills, risk preferences, attitudes and perception of future development benefits. The role of complementarities of land with farming skills are non-transferable that incorporate their concern for financial security and time preference. These concerns exhibited considerable diversity with corresponding preferences over alternative forms of non-cash compensation. Hence, alternative compensation packages ought to be offered to cater to this diversity