Assignment 6 Agricultural Transformation and Rural

Development
1. Compare and contrast the nature of peasant or small-scale traditional agriculture in Asia, Africa, and
Latin America. How do overall agricultural systems differ among these regions? What are the common
characteristics?

• Nature of Peasant or Small-Scale Traditional Agriculture in Asia:

➢ Rooted in fragmented and heavily congested dwarf parcels of land.

➢ Impact of colonial rule in strengthening land tenure systems of private property rights
and the consequent rise of moneylenders.

➢ Contemporary landlordism in India and Pakistan involves absentee landlordism and

persistence of sharecroppers and tenant farmers

➢ The creation of individual titles to land made possible the rise to power of another
dubious agent of change in Asian rural socioeconomic structures, the moneylender.

➢ Land became an asset that could be offered by peasants as security for loans and, in
the case of default, could be forfeited and transferred to the often-unscrupulous
moneylender.

➢ Asian agriculture was being transformed from a subsistence to a commercial

orientation, both as a result of rising local demand in new towns and, more important,
in response to external food demands of colonial European powers.
➢ Rapid population growth resulted in more fragmentation and peasant impoverishment

• Nature of Peasant or Small-Scale Traditional Agricultural in Africa:

➢ African agricultural systems dominated three characteristics

1. Importance of subsistence farming in the village community.

2. Existence of land in excess of immediate needs (allows shifting cultivation)

3. Rights of each family to have access to land and water in immediate area (if you do
not belong to the community, you are excluded.

➢ Traditional tools and limited technology restrict area that can be planted – although
land is available (animal power restricted). This leads to low productivity due to lack of
technology.

➢ Small areas intensively cultivated – subject to diminishing returns and increased labor
inputs and relatively high fraction of underutilized land.

➢ Scarcity of labor during the growing season – planting and weeding.

➢ Net result is virtually constant level of agricultural output and labor productivity
throughout Africa
 ➢ Gender discrimination among women

• Nature of Peasant or Small-Scale Traditional Agriculture in Latin America:

➢ Agrarian structure act as a basic feature of entire social economic, and political aspect
of rural life. Most of the Latin American agricultural patterns is characterized by two
types of landholdings – Latifundio and Minifundio.

➢ Latifundios are basically a very large landholding found particularly in the Latin America
agrarian system, capable of providing employment for more than 12 people, owned by
a small number of land-lords, and comprising a disproportionate share of total
agricultural land.

➢ Small number of latifundios control a large proportion of agriculture while vast number
of minifundios scratch out existence.

➢ Latifundios relatively inefficient because high proportion of land may be left idle.

➢ Little reinvestment of profits to improve productivity.

➢ Landowners often value their holdings not for their contributions to national
agricultural output but for power and prestige.

➢ Many small farmers exist on benevolence and goodwill of landowner- permits them a
meager living.

➢ Small farmers give up to 80% of production of output.

➢ Tenant farmers may have to provide both output and free labor to the patron.

2. Explain the meaning of Gunnar Myrdal’s quote at the beginning of this chapter: “It is in the agricultural
sector that the battle for long-term economic development will be won or lost.”

• Approximately, half of the world population resides in the rural areas. Majority of the
population in rural areas depend on agriculture. Therefore, importance of agricultural and rural
development cannot be over-emphasized. Poorest rural areas need to be developed first
otherwise development in third world nations cannot be achieved. It has come to the notice
that the largest increase of per capita food production is in China while for Africa there has been
a significant decline in agricultural productivity in the same period. This in turn, results in
increased economic development in China and worsening of economic situation in Africa.
Economic life in rural areas faces problems of poverty, mounting inequality, increasing
unemployment and high population growth. All these are the consequences of neglection of
agricultural development and preference given to urban industrial economy. Advancement in
agriculture encourages progress both in rural and urban regions.

Also, worthy of emphasis is that agriculture supply raw materials to run top industries
like cotton to textiles and sugar to sugarcane industries. Apart from this, agriculture is a market
for industrial products. It also accounts for international trade in developing countries, thus
sustaining a balance of payments and aid in becoming the country self-reliant. Improvement in
internal trade is also a part of agricultural production which helps various sectors and
government in many different ways.
 In order to win battle for long term economic development, Government must
undertake certain policies aiming at encouraging technologies and innovation in farms. These
policies should also target the utilization of hybrid seeds, fertilizers and irrigation to bring some
land in agriculture use, realization of land reforms and breaking the cycle of unequal distribution
of income in rural areas.

It is evident from the above-mentioned facts and rational discussion that boosting
agriculture sector’s productivity stimulates economic development in various other sectors.
Hence, Gunnar Myrdal’s assertion could be considered a truism.