Soru

Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:

In the early nineteenth century, the transition from traditional communal farming to formalized land titling across agrarian societies fundamentally reshaped local rural economies. Proponents of formal titling argued that clear property rights would incentivize individual farmers to invest long-term capital into soil conservation, irrigation, and modernized machinery, thereby boosting agricultural productivity. However, empirical assessments revealed a more nuanced reality. While wealthy landowners successfully leveraged land titles as collateral to secure bank credit for agricultural expansion, smallholder farmers often faced heightened financial vulnerability. Lacking access to formal financial institutions and risk-mitigation instruments, smallholders frequently pledged their titled land to informal lenders during drought cycles, leading to widespread land loss and rural indebtedness. Consequently, land titling alone failed to achieve equitable agrarian growth without simultaneous institutional support, such as accessible micro-credit, crop insurance, and public infrastructure investment. True rural modernization required a holistic policy framework rather than relying solely on legal property rights as a panacea for rural poverty.

Which of the following best synthesizes the central thesis of the passage?