Agricultural Technoscience Reduces Inequity

Summary:
    In this post, I'm going to talk about three ways that agricultural technoscience reduces inequity.


The poor in developing countries remain disproportionally rural, with most employed or self-employed in agriculture. There has therefore been a longstanding interest in understanding the relationship between agricultural growth, rural development and inequity reduction. In what way does agricultural technoscience reduce poverty and increase equity? Seemingly, this effect occurs through the impact on real rural household incomes; however, I believe that there are multiple pathways linking agricultural productivity to real income changes that respond to various market forces. There is strong evidence for direct and indirect inequity reduction through food prices effects, employment generation, and rural non-farm effects.

Increased agricultural productivity generated by new agricultural technology can decrease food prices, to the benefit of all consumers in both rural and urban settings. Thanks to the Green Revolution during 1960s and 1970s, agricultural output was expanded by the introduction of a series of technological innovation including modern irrigation projects, pesticides, synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. New and improved varieties of wheat and other grains developed through conventional and science-based methods were instrumental to the green revolution. "Real prices for most agricultural commodities have declined over the past four decades." (The Future of Technological Civilization, Prof. Woodhouse) Moreover, with advances in molecular genetics, the mutant genes responsible for desirable genes such as wheat reduced-height gene and rice semi-dwarf gene were cloned. Cereal production more than doubled in developing nations during those decades and the resulting decline in food prices significantly decreased inequality and poverty, making staples more universally affordable.

Will the increase in agricultural goods supplies and the decrease in its market equilibrium prices reversely result in poverty of rural households? Not necessarily. Growth in agricultural productivity resulting from technoscientific development can increase real wage rates, which both directly and indirectly contributes to poverty alleviation. According to a data analysis in Farm Productivity and Rural Poverty in India by Gaurav Datt and Martin Ravallion, higher real wages and higher farm yields reduced absolute poverty, and even the poorest benefited from productivity gains. Moreover, increased agricultural production is likely to increase the demand for farm labor through increases in area cultivated, intensity of cultivation, and frequency of cropping. In China, even more jobs are created as a result of the "Farmer, Countryside, and Agriculture" policies, implemented in early 2004. Increasing number of agricultural technology and biochemistry specialist entered countrysides, providing hands-on technological assistance and to farmers, guiding farmers to increase productivity with latest technology. Meanwhile, more and more political and economic professions visits rural families, helping farmers to manage their cultivation according to the market and policies and maximize profit by making full use of available resources and farmlands. These personnel now don't have to worry about getting a decent job in highly competitive urban organizations and firms, because farmers always need their technological assistance and are willing to pay them high wages. Therefore inequity is reduced.

Increased agricultural production creates demand for products and services related to agricultural input and output. Besides the increased need of professional assistance I have mentioned, which is a direct benefit from input of services for agriculture, there are also parts that being benefited indirectly such as processing, storage and transport. This benefit tends to be more dynamic and equitable in areas where agriculture thrives with the help of agricultural technology. Where agriculture performs poorly, employment in the rural non-farm economy is often an option of last resort offering extremely low wages. Moreover, It also generates consumption links as farmers and farm laborers spend increased incomes on goods and services. Non-poor farmers now are willing to purchase electronics and better furniture to better living condition and diversify livelihood, which indirectly reduces inequity by generating more job opportunities and by diminishing the gap between urban life and rural life.