Download Chapter 1: Human Misery

Chapter 10:
Agricultural and Rural
Development
Contribution of Agriculture

Produce
– food to meet basic nutritional needs
– raw materials to help the industry
– cash crops for export

Create employment and income for a
large number of people
Contribution of Agriculture

Create demand for finished consumer
and capital goods

Employ a large percentage of the labor
force

Generate a large percentage of the GDP
Performance of Agriculture
Per Capita food production in 1970-94:

Remained stable in the Middle East (excluding
Israel)
Index of Per Capita Food Production
Reasons for Poor Performance
Insufficient of investment in rural areas:
–
Human capital (education, nutrition, health)
–
Social capital (roads, homes, electricity, irrigation)
–
Land: water supply, fertilization, mechanization
–
Technological advancement: (high yield seed
variety, better planting methods)
Reasons for Poor Performance
Unequal land distribution
–
Large & powerful landowners
–
Small family farmers and peasants
–
Sharecroppers, landless peasants, and farm
workers
Agricultural Dualism
Commercial farming:


Very large landholdings
Massive government subsidies
Subsistence farming:



Small family farms
Sharecropers
Landless peasants
Agricultural Dualism
Problems:






Poverty
Land and income disparity
Rapid population growth
Growing number of landless peasants
Lack of government programs, helping
small farmers
Massive R-U migration
Role of Women
Daily tasks:

Home-making, child rearing

Food processing for consumption and
storage

Farming: weeding, harvesting, raising
livestock
Role of Women

Cash crop labor

Generate income through cottage industry

60-80% of farm labor in Asia

Subject to gender discrimination in education
and employment
Rural Development Strategies
Technological change and innovation:





Modern irrigation structure
Modern mechanical and chemical inputs
High seed varieties
Modern farming techniques
Appropriate technology: labor-intensive
Rural Development

Institutional and Pricing Policies

Parity pricing: equalization of unit farm
and nonfarm prices

Distribution systems and farmers
cooperatives
Pattern of Land Ownership in ME & NA

Private land owned by landlords and peasants

Public land owned by the government

Land under religious trust
Rural Development Strategies
Land Reform:

Distribute fertile land between small farmers and
landless peasants

Compensate owners for loss of land

Provide supportive services to help increase production

Establish rural industries and jobs to curb R-U migration