Sharecropping is a system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land (e.g., 50% of the crop). Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range of different situations and types of agreements that have encompassed the system. Some are governed by tradition, others by law. Legal contract systems such as the Italian mezzadria, the French métayage, the Spanish mediero, or the Islamic system of muqasat, enshrined in the Shariah, occur widely.
Read more about Sharecropping: Overview, Sharecropping Agreements, Farmer's Cooperatives, Economic Theories of Share Tenancy