As 70% to 80% of many LDC populations still reside in rural areas, how can agriculture and rural development?

Question

-->best be promoted? Are higher agriculture prices sufficient to stimulate food production, or are rural institutional changes (land redistribution, roads, transport, education, credit, etc.) also needed?

Answer 1

Higher prices for food will only help a small amount in stimulating food production because most of the food produced goes to feed the farmer and his family.  Their production is not limited to what they want to produce, but by how much they can produce.  These farmers first need critical imputes like better seed, a source of available and affordable fertilizer, access to affordable irrigation water.  Along with this they need access to credit, roads and transportation to get their crops to market.  Education will play a key roll establishing developed agriculture in a nation.  Along with developed agriculture, industry and employment in urban areas must be increased so there will be a good market for the food produced.

Answer 2

Why do people abreviate things in Yahoo Q/A?  Explain what an "LDC" population is, and you might get some answers.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 3

I've visited some of these countries in Africa and frankly they need just about everything to develop agriculture.  There is very little or no employment in these rural areas.  They farm to eat and it takes most of their production.  They usually have some to sell to bring in a little cash, but not much.  They have no access to tractors to break or clear their land so it has to all be done by hand.  This severely limits the amount of land that they can farm.  In most cases the amount of land available to them is not limited (this is in Africa and may not hold true in different  countries).  Their yields are limited by lack of fertilizer, improved seeds, and water. Most have a rainy season when they crop and a dry season where they can't.  Irrigation would give them year around agriculture as well as insure yields in a drought. Irrigation by itself would almost double their agriculture production. The roads are very poor so there is limited transportation to markets, and it is expensive.  Education at the lower levels is pretty good, but at upper levels  is limited.  There is very little education about improved agricultural practices in these rural areas.  Credit to help these farmers get started is nonexistent. Higher food prices might increase the desire to increase production, but in reality just increasing prices would help very little.