Food Security and Agricultural Development David Leonard Professorial Fellow in Governance Institute of Development Studies (UK)

Technical Advances (1) “The Future of Food and Farming” is right that technical change in agricultural production will be necessary Probably includes GMOs But should include reduction in use of herbicides and insecticides (which is good for the environment and for costs) Hard to avoid chemical fertilisers, given African problems with declining soil fertility.

Technical Advances (2) Big question is not whether technical change but what kind. Need ones that respect the quite different relative prices of the factors of production of the poor.

Relative Prices of Factors of Production OECD Labour> Land> Capital LICsLabour< Land< Capital

Small Farms Are Good for Productivity per unit of land (Lipton) Income distribution (Johnston, Tomitch) as – Subsistence reduces trading costs – Increases return to labour – Gives return to front-line small farm manager Industrialisation (Mellor, Kilby) as – Creates mass market

Increasing Number and Viability of Small Farms Large scale land reform generally is out of political fashion at the moment However, small farms can be encouraged by – Appropriate, labour-intensive technologies – Dense infrastructure in support of small farm access to markets Transport; Marketing; Finance (e.g. Contract farming) – Heavier taxes on large farms

Dangers Extensive international purchases of land or land rights – Pretends state own unoccupied land – When in fact it is trustee for peasants who have use rights – Very little land is completely unused Mindless transfer of technologies from land abundant/ labour scarce societies to LMICs EU CAP and USA agricultural subsidies