Agriculture & Development

Agriculture is a particularly important piece of the rural poverty equation. Much of the history of economic development in industrialized countries has been marked by a gradual shift away from agriculture to industry and services. However, this is generally preceded by rapid growth and expansion of a vigorous agricultural sector. Not surprisingly, rapid agricultural growth is considered a primary avenue for poverty alleviation. With sustained agricultural growth, augmented by other forms of environmental income, from forest products to forage and even ecotourism, many poor rural families can gain in economic strength, allowing them to begin the transition away from sole dependence on farming and nature-based activities for all their income.

Research shows that as agricultural growth matures, agriculture paradoxically begins to play a less crucial role in the overall growth process, and eventually declines as a share of economic output. Rural residents begin to depend more on rural industry and so called “off-farm” incomes, which provide additional and quicker routes out of poverty. However, many of these rural industries, such as agriculture processing and rural service provision, will themselves be indirectly dependent on natural resources—and thus benefit from a sound approach to ecosystem management. In other words, a good relationship to ecosystems and environmental income supports many dimensions of rural growth and is beneficial at several points in the economic evolution from subsistence to wealth.