way from production to the consumers stomach; and link food policies with other macropolicies. Econometric modelling can be of great help in weaving the coordinated fabric.

(3) Do not equate self-sufficiency with autarky, but strive for food secur- ity. On the supply side, this means the ability to produce needed food. At the demand level, this means to provide ready economic and physical access to food required by all consumers. Parti- cipation in food exports and imports thus becomes consistent with a self- sufficiency strategy oriented by food security criteria.

(4) Temporary subsidies are not necessarily bad. However, producer subsidies should be economically justi- fied by rapidly enhancing productiv- ity. If consumer subsidies are to be socially justified they must be targeted to neediest groups and efficiently administered.

(5) In spite the current fashion. which favours private implementation of food policies, this approach can be expedited by State-Owned Enter- prises (SOEs), provided they are suit- ably encouraged by political and eco- nomic incentives and have reasonable existing administrative capacity. Be- cause various government bureaucra- cies have different institutional in- terests and agendas, the incentives must fit the circumstances. One way to achieve that is by involving im- plementors in all planning processes. Admittedly, that is easier said than done.

(6) New production technology will be rapidly adopted by traditional producers in response to strong econo- mic incentives. Technological pack- ages must be flexible, rather than standard, to fit location-specific condi- tions readily.

(7) To ensure a positive contribu- tion of the private sector to the imple- mentation process requires a sym- pathetic rather than adversary approach to understanding its struc- ture and competitive dynamics.

(8) An effective feedback mechanism must link researchers of adaptive technology with producers. A sustained impact assessment re- quires systematic information collec- tion and analysis, so as to provide

FOOD POLICY November 1987

sustained feedback to policy makers about effectiveness of their strategy and enable them to take prompt reme- dial action. Relevant and timely data needs to be collected to permit assess- ment of how much is being produced of what, by whom, where and why.

(9) Food self-sufficiency is attain- able, but requires major, concentrated and continuous effort. Governments need to monitor costs of these efforts so as not to fall into the ‘self- sufficiency-at-any-price’ trap.

(10) Physical efficiency of moving produce from farm to consumer should be monitored by post-harvest losses. The consumption effects need to be measured by surveys of intake of different foods and monitoring nutri- tional status of at-risk groups. Income distribution effects have to be periodi- cally assessed.

In short, well-intentioned policy is not enough, no matter how brilliantly designed and ‘potentially’ beneficial to producer and consumer target groups. Neither is it sufficient to have effective leverage with government institutions. Food policy can only be fully effective and lasting if existing producers and

consumers are willing and able to take it on as a political project of their own _ in agreement with their interests, needs and capacities. That counsel sounds so simple, it seems trivial. This is precisely why it is so difficult to carry out.

To sum up, the Austin/Esteva edited volume is head-and-shoulders above the dozens of books on food policy that I have read within the last decade or so. I therefore congratulate Cornell University, my Alma Mater. for publishing this marvellously useful opus; and recommend it uncon- ditionally to actors on the food policy scene everywhere.

Frank Meissner The Inter-American Development

Bank Washington, DC, USA

‘Frank Meissner, ‘The Mexican Food Sys- tem (SAM) - a strategy for sowing pet- roleum’, food Policy, Vol 6, No 4, pp 219-230; M.R. Redclift, ‘The Mexican Food System (SAM) - sowing subsidles, reaping apathy’, Food Policy, Vol 6, No 4, pp 231-235; James E. Austin and Gustav0 Esteva, ‘SAM is dead - long live SAM’. Food Policy, Vol 10, No 2, pp 123-l 36.

Seeking solutions for poverty in the Third World POVERTY AND HUNGER Issues and Options for Food Security in Developing Countries World Bank Policy Study, The World Bank, Washington, DC, USA, 1986, 69 pp, f 7.50

LANDLESSNESS: A GROWING PROBLEM by Radna Sinha Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy, 1984, 112 pp

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SOIL EROSION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES by Piers Blaikie Longman, Harlow, UK, 1985, 188pp

AGRICULTURE, POVERTY AND FREEDOM IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES by Eric Clayton Macmillan, London, UK, 1983,277~~

AGRICULTURAL CHANGE AND RURAL POVERTY: VARIATIONS ON A THEME BY DHARM NARAIN edited by John W. Mellor and Gunvant M. Desai Published for IFPRI by The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, USA, 1985, 232 pp, f21.95

AGRICULTURE AND EQUITABLE GROWTH: THE CASE OF PUNJAB- HARYANA by John R. Westly Westview Press, Boulder, CO, USA, 1986, 369 pp, f32.50

397

As the last of the books covered by of the Chinese Communist agrarian quality introduction, probably more this review indicates, the diagnosis system reflects a special cast. It is stimulating than anything else on offer and remedies for Third World rural based much further back in history seeking to fulfil this purpose. poverty fall into three broad categor- than the charismatic appeal and The books by Professor Sinha ies: (1) radical solutions stress the administrative capabilities of the lead- (Glasgow University) and Dr Blaikic need for the revolutionary redistribu- ers who survived the Long March; (Managing Director of the Overseas tion of assets, particularly land, as the namely on Confucian and centuries’ Development Group at the University only effective means to achieve any long traditions of cooperative action of East Anglia) address the single appreciable redistribution towards the and on the collective experience, from most important domestic source of poor - Communist China being the at least the mid-nineteenth century. of rural poverty - limited land supply. its obvious example; (2) reformist widespread civil strife and inadequate generally unequal ownership, and the approaches may place some emphasis government which produced deaths in large proportions of the agricultural on less dramatic changes in the own- the hundreds of millions and mass population which are either landless ership of assets, but emphasize the misery to a degree far worse than or seeking to eke out a living on increase in income opportunities anything seen throughout the Third grossly insufficient pasture or crop- through economic growth and social World in the last 40 years. China had a land. welfare programmes; and (3) neo- population already well-prepared for a Professor Sinha is at heart a clear classical strategies omit, or barely Hobbesian political solution when the radical. include, asset redistribution. but stress the role of economic growth, including stimuli from the more efficient alloca- tion of resources priced according to their social opportunity costs.

The mix of policy recommendations of individual analysts depends partly on their views of the respective work- ings of the market system and of central planmng, ; n I d partly on their

perceptions of the changes in rural incomes, both the numbers or propor- tion living at some specified level of absolute poverty and changes in the distribution of income - or relative poverty - which may or may not involve any deterioration in the abso- lute situation. In particular. the last 20 years has seen a lively debate on the extent to which the green revolution has influenced one or other of these aspects of income distribution, either

Communists came to power. Without this background, Communist success probably would have been much more difficult to realize.

Rural poverty

The books in this review cover various aspects of rural poverty in the Third World, although none seeks to be comprehensive.

Poverty ad Hwqer is a short, general review of the problems in non-Communist countries and of the moderately reformist and neo-classical means by which they can be ‘addres- sed’ through food and agricultural policies. (There are no radical refer- ences to land reform.) It begins by describing the scale and causes of persistent diet deficiencies and of the more transitory periodic shortages

If employment opportunities outside the agricultural sector cannot IX crcatcd at a sufficiently rapid pace to absorb the mas- sive increases in the labour force. there is no realistic alternative to a meaningful redistribution of land A radical redis- tribution of hind is the best means 01 distributing limited employment opportu- nities - for that matter poverty more equitably and the growth potential in such i\ redistribution should not be under- estimated. The Chinese example proves that a fairer society hascd on such 2~ redistribution gencratcs its own momcn- turn. The magnitude of rural as well as urban uncmploymcnt. which is largely the manifestation of ‘landlrssncss :md nc;gr- landlessness’, is immcnsc and will continue to grow unabated. There arc’ no e;lsq solutions. Radical measures arc often ignored or circumvented either for ideolo- gical considerations or on grounds of fcasi- hility. This inevitably letids to :I worxening of the situation It is to<) much to expect that the state machinery, widely controlled and influenced by both rich klrmcrs and

adversely or beneficially. which compound the basic problem. It those in the middle-income bracket, will

However, there is one element outlines most of the principal various allow a fair share of the inputs and services

which is virtually absent from the national and international measures to reach the marginal and bmall farmers

literature, namely perspective on the which may be adopted to east these Unless the technological transformn-

tion of agriculture is supplemented hy a time necessary for economic change problems, providing pointers to their radical trkformation of-cknomic, so&l,

and public policies to bring percepti- relative merits and measures of cost political and administrative institutions. it

blc improvements in income levels effectiveness. is highly unlikely that catastrophic social

and distribution. In western nations While very little is new, the report upheavals can be averted or cvcn po\t-

this has been a slow process, which sets out the issues clearly and intro- poned for long (p 6. p X and p 62).

can only be interpreted completely by duces the more complex techniques of The greater part of his study examines taking into account the pace of de- analysis in devising cost-effective, the scale and underlying causes of velopment of new opportunities and practical programmes. Many of the landlessness in the various regions of rising national incomes which permit examples in the ‘boxes’ now common the non-Communist Third World. and the ‘buying off’ of vested interests in World Bank reports are particularly the economic and social conditions of opposed to the economic and social illuminating for the intended read- landless peoples, with some special

changes involved. ership. eg food policy interventions in emphasis on India and on the social Even the outstanding example for India. distribution of food and income impact of the green revolution. The

the radicals, China, may need careful in Egypt, or the high costs of buffet available statistics are subject to many

interpretation. Arguably, the success stocks. This is an extremely high limitations, which Professor Sinha

398 FOOD POLICY November 1987

notes, but are generally sufficient for his purpose and provide a reasonable account of the principal features of the present state of landlessness and its historical background.

Most of the rest of the study briefly reviews the major and minor means of easing the basic problem, with particu- lar attention to redistributive land reform to individual farmers, group farming as in the Chinese communes, land development and settlement of previously undeveloped land, creation of alternative employment opportuni- ties through changes in development plans, and rural works and basic needs programmes. Research priorities and action programmes form a brief con- clusion, which hardly rises to the big issues which have gone before.

Chinese solutions

Professor Sinha is particularly attracted to Chinese-type solutions. However, we are not given any assess- ment of the transferability of the Chinese political economy elsewhere, say to the Indian subcontinent, or. for example, of the successes and failures of collective farming elsewhere, say the Israeli kibbutz or the Mexican ejidos. Then, as argued above, if one sees the Chinese revolutionary experi- ence as at least a century of Hobbesian preconditioning and almost 40 years of implementation, the equally quick path of evolutionary reform realized in developed market economies, and perhaps now making a tentative start in a number of developing countries (eg Brazil), deserves as much atten- tion. For example, one might consider how Denmark or Japan handled land- lessness. (In the case of Japan the process well precedes the post-war MacArthur land reforms, which is usually overlooked.)

The evolutionary theme is virtually ignored by Professor Sinha. His occa- sional comments on institutions which might play some important part in such evolutions are seriously incom- plete, for example those on planta- tions which ignore their contributions in technology and land development and their now quite frequent organiza- tion as integrated schemes between central estates (typically government

controlled) and peasant producers re- sponsible for most of the crop. The one reference to an unnamed multina- tional (in fact Gulf and Western) in the Dominican Republic fails to con- sider its probably better performance in sugar than the state-owned planta- tions and its efforts to create non- agricultural jobs, and many other ex- amples might have been cited.

A report under the FAO aegis cannot easily handle the politically sensitive issues involved in many ave- nues of change, of both the left and the right. Professor Sinha’s study suf- fers accordingly, probing neither deeply or widely enough.

Soil erosion would 5eem to be self- evidently important as a cause of rural poverty, yet Piers Blaikie’s book is probably the first comprehensive study by an economist. His field ex- perience, particularly in Nepal and upper India, and a quite extensive command of the literature have re- sulted in a stimulating and much needed work. He outlines the appa- rent scale of the problem and provides a framework of analysis which puts the typical technical or farm-management based studies into a wider sociological, political and economic context. He sees the poor in many overpopulated, marginal areas as forced into practices which destroy their land and, as a lesser but important source of erosion, he argues that logging and other multi- nationals often have the same effect - with, in each case, powerful domestic interest groups reinforcing the pro- cess.

Inequalities between the majority of the rural populations affected by soil erosion and other powerful groups in access to adequate economic opportunities are both a result and a cause of soil erosion. In this sense soil erosion is a symptom of undcr- development, and it reinforces that condi- tion Conditions of inequality are considered an essential driving force in the over-use of common land. This inequality

is often underpinned by encroachment of the privatisation of land, which forces marginalised people to USC the commons more intensively Soil erosion in lesser developed countries will not be substantial- ly reduced unless it seriously thrcatcns the accumulation possibilities of the dominant classes Small-scale land-users often directly cause soil erosion, because they are forced to do so by social relationships involving surplus extraction Large

scale producers can directly lead to soil erosion [However] it seems likely that, on balance, the contribution of large entcr-

prises to soil erosion is indirect [Multi- national] timhcr extraction is carried out in such a way to minim& the economic benefit to the host country as a whole or to people living in or near the exploited forest (pages 3, 1.30, 137, 1.38, I39 and 141).’

There is much in this general thesi5 and its application to particular situa- tions which is valid and nothing which can be raised in criticism can discount, for example. the effects of extensively farmed latifurzdia in South and Central America or the rapid pace and severe local economic damage of erosion in the Himalayas. The author is justified in claiming that he provides a much needed width of perspective. Howev- er, supping with neo-Marxism (or any other ‘ism’ except, perhaps. the eclec- tic variety) require5 a longer spoon than Piers Blaikie has used.

First, he makes passing reference to two authors who argue that the scarci- ty of land can be overstressed (Beck- erman and Simon), but he does not incorporate the consideration that in certain circumstances it is as econom- tally justified to mine land as, say, phosphate rock or copper deposits. Capital may be saved in the shorter term and in the longer run land saving techniques (high yield seeds, fertiliz- ers, chemicals, improved irrigation, etc) can provide adequate offsets. For example, the apparently relaxed atti- tude of Brazil to the depletion of Amazonia, or of Indonesia to erosion from logging, may be in part due to this perception, a5 well as the political pressures he identifies. (Of course, these cases raise the global environ- mental implications of destroying tro- pical rain forests, an issue totally outside the focus of the book.)

A more serious omission is any consideration of the comparative pro- duction economics of large-scale farm-

ing and of the more extensive peasant systems they displace. There are many cases where the new system so en- larges the total value of output and require5 such large input5 of labour that. while income inequalities are increased, absolute poverty is re- duced. The horticultural export sector in Mexico seems to be a good exam- ple. Of course, in many such cases,

FOOD POLICY November 1987

peasants can be organized in an inte- grated processing-production system to match or at least come very close to the efficiency of the plantation approach. An example is the Mumias sugar scheme in Kenya. But this is by no means always so, as (pace Profes- sor Feder of Strawberry Imperiulism) in the Mexican case. As the neo- Marxist Joan Robinson once wrote, ‘The misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all’.

But, all this said, The Politicml Economy of Soil Erosion in Develop- ing Countries is an important addition to the literature on Third World rural poverty.

Right wing

With Dr Eric Clayton we might Seem to be at the other end of the politico- economic spectrum. His book is dedi- cated, among others, to his various mentors, especially the doyen of right wing interpretations of developing country agricultural sectors, Lord Pe- ter Bauer. While the second half of Agriculture, Poverty und Freedom in Developing Countries is but tangen- tially related to the titular obligation (mostly covering aspects of agricultu- ral research and project development and appraisal). the remainder is a vigorous attack on those who have espoused the more radical, egalitarian remedies. At times it becomes a di- atribe against the ‘sins’ of the Left, which many will find distasteful. This is unfortunate, because the radical critics are often extremely weak in their understanding of the facts and importance of peasant agricultures, of which Dr Clayton writes from the base of an extensive and deep experience, especially in relation to eastern Afri- ca.

The reader is advised to start with Chapters 4 and 5, which review the general production economics of peasant agricultures, and then turn to the opening section. Here Dr Clayton starts by reviewing the shift in de- velopment strategies over the last 40 years, from priority for overall GNP growth (with its expectation of sub- stantial ‘trickle down’ income effects), to emphasis on employment genera-

tion and redistribution of income. and finally to the latter’s extension to particular emphasis on meeting the basic needs of the several hundred millions of the most impoverished on this earth. He settles for a modified GNP growth, embracing ‘the twin aims of increasing the size and the productivity of the smallholder or peasant farm sector’.

cultural Prices Commission, the late Dharm Narain. Papers on experiences in Africa, Indonesia and Japan widen the perspective, but the focus is large- ly on India, with a short review of related experience in Bangladesh. The core of the book lies in four papers - John Mellor’s theoretical outline. Ahluwalia’s statistical analysis of Indi- an rural poverty to lY77178, Dant- wala’s general review of technology, growth and equity, and the concluding synthesis by John Mellor and Gunvant Desai. There are two principal themes: the significance of Narain‘s model and the green revolution’s effects on the extent of poverty.

lie acknowledges clearly the econo- mic, as well as social. objections to bimodalism based on the latifundirr- dominated, relatively extensive sys- tems, which are mostly in Latin Amer- ica, although he stresses, probably correctly, that official acceptance of bimodal elements in South-east basic food production, such as India, is necessary to maximize food produc- tion in the medium term. But his main concern is to stress that the small peasant systems common to much of Africa and Asia are not amenable to radical solutions, although he would not reject the basic needs approach were it not for it5 enormous cost. In particular, he provides an extremely useful summary of information on the relatively egalitarian distribution of income in many pea5ant agricultures (including the important non-farm sources so largely developed by those who are most deprived of land which, if omitted in the analysis, often leads to an over-statement of the degree of inequality) and the constraint which this places on radical solutions.

Distracting

Even though many will find the side- swipes at the Left distracting, Agricul-

ture, Poverty and Freedom in Develop- ing Countries contains much of subst- ance in both fact and interpretation which tends to be overlooked, or at least inadequately considered. by radicals and reformers.

Agricultural Change und Rural Poverty is a set of 18 essays - some- what uneven in scope but overall providing an important analysis - pre- pared for a conference in 1982 and stimulated by a simple econometric interpretation of annual changes in the extent of rural poverty in India over 1956/.57-1970/71 developed by the for- mer Chairman of the Indian Agri-

Annual changes

Narain had ‘explained’ annual changes in the proportion of the population living below a given level of absolute poverty in terms of three independent variables; ie log proportion in poverty

- 0% log real farm output per head + log actual consumer price index for hired agricultural labourers - 0.18 log time (1956157 1 .O, 19571% 2.0, and so on to 1970171). with an R-sq of 0.94. Several papers comment on the limitations of this interpreta- tion - doubt5 over its econometric specification, its poor applicability to a longer period, and in its failure to proceed from national aggregation to significant regional differentiation. In particular, Montek Ahluwalia demon- strates that the statistical association becomes distinctly weaker when the

analysis is extended to 1977/7S. rc- fleeting the reduced vulnerability of the rural poor to consumer price changes with the spread of the public food distribution system into rural areas in the more recent years. (Pre- sumably this conclusion applies even more strongly since 1977178 and it is unfortunate that the editors have not given the reader some qualitative up- date on this point.)

There is one major grain of truth which comes clearly from Dharm NS rain’s formulation. Individual year5 can be extremely misleading in iden- tifying the trends in the incidence of poverty, perhaps hardly a startling conclusion but one which is not always observed in empirical analysis (eg

FOOD POLICY November 1987

Table 8.1). Otherwise there seems very little that it can provide which cannot be obtained by simple trend analysis.

These essays are likely to be much more interesting for what they provide as a general perspective of Indian rural poverty and for the debate on the green revolution’s effects. Pranab Bardhan provides a useful listing of the potentially disadvantageous pro- cesses (pp 77-7X), but this seems to be refuted by the balance of argument and evidence elsewhere - particularly

M.L. Dantwala (pp 1 l&llS), Raisud- din Ahmed on Bangladesh, and Mon- tek Ahluwalia’s general statistical re- view.

Dr Ahluwalia concludes:

(1) There is fairly strong evidence of an inverse relationship hetwcen agricultural income per head and the incidence of rural poverty, especially if account is taken of lagged effects; (2) there is no evidence that this relationship has weakened since the green revolution; and (3) reliance on growth alone will not bring ahout a large reduction in the incidence of poverty in the near future. These conclusions underscore the need for rural development programs aimed especially at the rural poor (p 73).

There is unfortunately little scope for his recommendation as long as India persists with its heavy emphasis on capital intensive. developed-country- type forms of industrial investment or the rich countries restrict the markets for Third World exports.

Green revolution

Agriculture and Equitable Growth: the Cusr of Punjuh-Huryana provides an extremely valuable review of one of the most voluminous segments of rural development literature of the 25 years to 1982, even though the author’s final conclusions may not entirely satisfy. (A recent complementary book is Agriculture and the Development Pro- cess: a Study of Punjuh by D.P. Chaudri and A.K. Dasgupta, Croom Helm, 1985.)

John Westley’s particular interest is to examine the green revolution de- velopment of the two states (with a combined population of around 30 million in the late 1970s) as evidence of ‘the feasibility of equitable growth in the absence of fundamental land

FOOD POLICY November 1987

reforms and other basic changes in the structure of rural institutions [which] is particularly important for India’ (p 3).

Through the 1960s and 1970s annual per capita domestic product grew at 3.1% in the Punjab and marginally below 3.0% in Haryana, as against 1.1% for India. Real wage rates of hired agricultural labourers showed no perceptible upward trend in the two states over the 20 years, but their overall employment increased more than threefold. There was some con- centration in the ownership of land and other farm assets, but for small farmers this disadvantage was more than offset by their ability to apply the new technologies. The Iwo states have, for some time, been much better placed than India as a whole with regard to the share of population below the official poverty level, with levels running at something over one- half of the national proportions in 1957-67. By the mid- to late-1970s it seems to have fallen to almost 40% of the national rate (Table 4 and our calculation from Table 36). Relative inequality may have increased, but the green revolution was not an experi- ence causing mass misery.

Dr Westley stresses the advantages which the two states enjoy in soils, topography and other natural condi- tions and also those from the extensive investment in rural infrastructure. But one is left wondering how far he sustains his case that the Haryana- Punjab experience points sufficiently

to an effective strategy for most of rural India or other developing areas. As he notes, the two states enjoyed what was in effect export-lead growth, following the major shift to more remunerative crop prices by the gov- ernment of India in the mid-l96Os, which enabled them to replace im- ports from the USA and Australia for the public foodgrain distribution sys- tem. Opportunities on a sufficient

scale are not now so immediately available as they were for the compa- ratively small, combined populations in Harayana and the Punjab in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

None of this is to deny the case for greater emphasis on rural-oriented growth, but it should be made in terms of the more general Lipton-Mellor arguments, to which Dr Westley re- fers, rather than on the basis of what in some considerable degree appears to be a special case.

These six books seem to be a representative selection on non-

Communist, Third World rural pover- ty. Their overall impression is pessi- mistic with so much to make better yet so little net progress and few practical solutions for significantly more rapid advance.

George Allen Barnstaple, Devon, UK

‘The ‘indirect’ effects of large-scale pro- ducers represent their envisaged part in promoting the inequalities outlined earlier in the quotation.

Mixing and matching food marketing systems WORLD FOOD MARKETING SYSTEMS

edited by Erdener Kaynak

Buttetworths, Borough Green, Seven- oaks, Kent, UK, 1986, 333 pp, f37.50

Food marketing, of course, embraces a considerable number of facets: its contribution to the economy; the dynamics of its change in a changing

environment; structure, behaviour and performance parameters; the im- pact of government policies on the food sector; linkages with the agri- cultural sector; the domestic food sector in the international environ- ment; the food sector and consumer welfare, food standards and nutrition; and the development of new products are just some examples of what might be explored. Consider this on a world- wide scale, not just for one country, and the potentially encyclopaedic na-

401