The Failure of Agriculture: Food Entitlements, élite Violence, and Famines

Abstract

Agriculture is a major component of GDP in low-income countries and a major influence on the rest of the economy through its contribution to food supplies, foreign exchange, labour supply, capital transfer, and markets. Frequently the failure of food and agricultural development is a key element of a protracted stagnation or decline, and rising social tensions. In several sub-Saharan African countries, agricultural stagnation is associated with slow technological and institutional modernization, unfavourable government policies and factor market distortions, and obsolete agrarian structures. Declining rural productivity contributes not only to increased dog-eat-dog contention among severely impoverished rural populations, but also spurs rural-urban migration, increasing urban unemployment, underemployment, and political discontent, which may contribute to humanitarian emergencies.