Rural poverty and agrarian reform

Food production has grown faster than population in most developing countries over the past 10 to 15 years. Paradoxically, however, over the same period the number of rural households falling below the poverty line has escalated. "Green Revolution" development strategies have succeeded in increasing agricultural output but have done little to meet the basic needs of the poor. Only in those countries where radical agrarian reforms have been undertaken has there been any significant impact on rural poverty.

This book critically evaluates the rural development and agrarian reform programmes attempted in a few carefully selected developing countries. Throughout, the emphasis is on the impact these policies have had on the rural poor and, in particular, on the way in which class alliances and conflicts within the countries concerned serve to inhibit or encourage the implementation of "progressive" agrarian policies.

The book begins with an introduction by the editors which analyses the trends in rural poverty in the Third World, the types of programmes that have been tried, and the politics of rural development and agrarian reform. The remainder of the book comprises 15 country case studies. The countries included in the volume have been chosen to illustrate both the variety of approaches to agrarian development that have been tried in he Third World and the problems peculiar to different regions.