Agriculture and development: A brief review of the literature

摘要

After 20 years of neglect by international donors, agriculture is now again in the headlines because high food prices are increasing food insecurity and poverty. In the comingyears, it will be essential to increase food productivity and production in developingcountries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and with smallholders. This, however, requires finding viable solutions to a number of complex technical, institutional, and policy issues, including land markets, research on seeds and inputs, agricultural extension,credit, rural infrastructure, connection to markets, rural non-farm employment, tradepolicy and food price stabilization. It discusses in turn the role played by agriculture inthe development process and the interactions between agriculture and other economicsectors, the determinants of the Green Revolution and the foundations of agriculturalgrowth, issues of income diversification by farmers, approaches to rural development,and issues of international trade policy and food security, which have been at the root ofthe crisis in agricultural commodity volatility in recent years.