Landlessness definition
Landlessness literally means the absolute lack of land, but not all countries stick to this usage. In Bangladesh, for instance, landless households are technically those owning between 0 and 49 decimals (a decimal being a hundredth of an acre or 40.46 square meters) (Barkat, 2011). Indonesia’s landless own less than 0.2 ha (SAINS & KPA, 2011). Some countries make the distinction between “landless” – or those with absolutely no land – and the “land poor” – where parcels are so small that they cannot support household needs. In Cambodia, the “land-poor” own less than 0.5 ha (STAR Kampuchea, 2011); in Nepal, less than 0.1 ha (CSRC, 2012). Pakistan has categories for the “landless” and “nearly landless” (SCOPE, 2011). The Philippines’ CARP law states that landless beneficiaries are those owning less than 3 ha of agricultural land; but this is for land redistribution purposes. Some NGOs maintain that the landless are those with landholdings of less than 1 ha.