Agriculture and Rural Development

Contents: Preface. 1. Development thinking in agriculture. 2. Productivity growth in agriculture. 3. Food insecurity and agricultural development. 4. Water and rural development. 5. Sustainable livelihoods approach to rural development. 6. Agriculture, migration and rural poverty. 7. Agricultural workers' contribution to rural development. 8. Role of women in agriculture and rural development. 9. Promotion of rural agriculture. 10. Agricultural policies for sustainable rural development. 11. Agricultural extension and rural development. Bibliography. Index.

"Some three quarters of the world's absolute poor live in rural areas, and their livelihoods are most often linked to agriculture. At the same time, agriculture has a major impact on the environment and is closely connected to water, health and nutrition, and education. In recent years, the international community has increasingly recognised the importance of agriculture to rural development.

The major objective of agriculture and rural development is to increase food production in a sustainable way and enhance food security. This will involve education initiatives, utilization of economic incentives and the development of appropriate and new technologies, thus ensuring stable supplies of nutritionally adequate food, access to those supplies by vulnerable groups, and production for markets; employment and income generation to alleviate poverty; and natural resource management and environmental protection.

This book provided a comprehensive account of agriculture and rural development, the issues which constitute important segment in the economic development of developing nations. It analyses topics such as development thinking in agriculture, agricultural productivity, food insecurity, migration and rural poverty, policies and programmes for rural development and so on. The contents of the book will prove useful for policymakers, researchers, students and all those concerned with sustainable agriculture and rural development." (jacket)