Although the farmer’s Janus-like appearance—half-capitalist, half-worker—frequently is seen as inconsistent with capitalist development, in fact, this arrangement is quite efficient in providing cheap food and raw materials. The government allows this system of petty producers to feel a constant level of stress to spur them on. At the same time, the government provides a certain degree of protection to this seemingly archaic system of production, knowing full well that agriculture organized on a more strictly capitalist basis could prove to be substantially more costly.
