What can agriculture do for development？.docVIP

What Can Agriculture Do for Development? ——Based on World Development Report 2008 Kaibo Zang Abstract：This paper argues that agriculture, as the foundation of national economy, plays a very important role in development. Because of its features, agriculture can provide basic food, labor force, foreign exchanges, and environmental services and reduce poverty. Although the importance of agriculture in some developed countries is declining, agriculture still contributes much to the development. The importance of agriculture in the developing countries is very prominent. Keywords: Agriculture Development Economic growth 1. Introduction A number of development economists and agriculture economists have long focused on the role of agriculture in the development. Two polar views regarding the centrality of agriculture’s role in development are prominent. At one pole, a substantial literature argues that agriculture is necessary for development. At the other pole is the view that development can always bypass this process of agriculture development and instead invest to build an industrial base. The purpose of this paper is to analyzing the role of agriculture in development and what can agriculture provide for development. A major motivating factor for writing this paper is my observations on that many literatures ignore the importance of agriculture in development. As we know, in most poor countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, large majorities of the population live in rural areas and earn their livehoods primarily from agriculture. Agriculture is a main department in these developing countries. But even in developed countries, although the proportion of agriculture in gross demotic product (GDP) is getting lower and lower, agriculture, as a foundation of economy, makes very important contribution to the development. 2. The Literature Review A rich literature, both theoretical and empirical, has articulated agriculture’s role, from the least developed in wh