Glossary: ejido

DEFINITION:
A landholding peasant community or the land owned collectively by the members of such a community. An ejido, according to Mexican legislation, is a legal entity of the ""social interest sector,"" and its jurisdiction is in the hands of Mexican-born peasants. Its holdings consist of the ejidal plots, i.e., individual farming plots, the school plots, the ejidal urban zones, the houses and annexes to each plot, and any water resources and forest areas associated with the community. Two basic kinds of ejidos exist: the ""individual"" ejido, in which land tenure and ownership are legally vested in a community but cropland is allocated by plots (parcelas) on a semipermanent basis among the individual ejidatarios (ejido members); and the ""collective"" ejido, in which land resources are pooled for collectively organized production. A majority of ejidos are of the individual kind.

All Countries