New Seeds and Poor People - Softcover
'Modern varieties' (MVs) of cereals, developed through plant genetics, currently add at least 50 million tons each year to Third World grain output. India, desperate for imports during 1965-7, now exports wheat in normal years. Yet most of Africa grows few or no MVs. In Africa and South Asia poverty continues to increase. How have MVs achieved so much - yet so little? This book uses evidence from plant breeding, economics, and nutrition science to pinpoint what has been achieved, what has gone wrong, and what to do next.
The technical features of the MVs mean more employment, cheaper food and less risk for small farmers. Yet the gains bring new problems. By reducing crop diversity, successful but similar MVs increase the danger from pests. In areas unsuited to MVs, farmers often cannot compete. Workers are displaced as MV incomes help farmers to obtain weedicides or threshers. MVs may enlarge cereal stocks, yet the hungry are too poor to buy. Meanwhile, some researchers fine-tune grain quality, rather than increase the yield, robustness, or regional spread of MVs. Through it all, rural population and labour supply - continue to grow.
The authors conclude that technical breakthroughs alone won't solve deep-rooted social problems. Only new policies and new research priorities, agrotcchnical and socioeconomic, will increase the choices, assets, and power of the rural poor)
The technical features of the MVs mean more employment, cheaper food and less risk for small farmers. Yet the gains bring new problems. By reducing crop diversity, successful but similar MVs increase the danger from pests. In areas unsuited to MVs, farmers often cannot compete. Workers are displaced as MV incomes help farmers to obtain weedicides or threshers. MVs may enlarge cereal stocks, yet the hungry are too poor to buy. Meanwhile, some researchers fine-tune grain quality, rather than increase the yield, robustness, or regional spread of MVs. Through it all, rural population and labour supply - continue to grow.
The authors conclude that technical breakthroughs alone won't solve deep-rooted social problems. Only new policies and new research priorities, agrotcchnical and socioeconomic, will increase the choices, assets, and power of the rural poor)
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Product Description:
Commissioned by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the book appraises the 15 or more years work involved in the controversial Green Revolution - and just how far this has improved the position of people in less developed countries. The book studies the research and use of modern grain varieties - from their physical features to the implications for consumption and nutrition within the context of international trade economics. It concludes with a call that more rational concepts be introduced so that research has the real and direct aim of benefitting indigenous cultures.
About the Author:
Michael Lipton is an economist specialising in agricultural research, land reform, poverty and inequality, nutrition, and economic demography in developing countries, including Bangladesh, Botswana, India, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and South Africa.
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- PublisherRoutledge
- Publication date1989
- ISBN 10 0044453272
- ISBN 13 9780044453277
- BindingPaperback
- Edition number1
- Number of pages496
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NEW SEEDS AND POOR PEOPLE
Published by
UNWIN HYMAN, London
(1989)
ISBN 10: 0044453272
ISBN 13: 9780044453277
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Book Description Condition: New. 978-0-04-445327-7. LIPTON, M. / R. LONGHURST: NEW SEEDS AND POOR PEOPLE. 1989 UNWIN HYMAN 535 gr. Seller Inventory # 300
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