Along with the rising trends in agro-industrialization, several Asian countries have witnessed a rapid transformation of their agricultural systems, from subsistence to commercial production systems. Increased commercialization shifts farm households away from traditional self-sufficiency goals and towards profit- and income-oriented decision making; farm output is accordingly more responsive to market needs. On the demand side, the process of agricultural commercialization is triggered by rapid income growth and the consequent diversification in food demand patterns. The need to provision the rapidly growing cities of Asia also acts as a trigger for the transformation of food production systems. On the supply side, rising opportunity costs of family labor lead to declining returns to labor-intensive subsistence production systems. The process of structural transformation is well underway across much of Asia, although the speed at which it is occurring varies by country.
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