Seasonality and agriculture in the developing world : a problem of the poor and powerless

Recent years have seen a strong interest in the problem of seasonal variation in employment, income, nutrition and sickness in rural areas of the Third World. In general the poorer and more powerless people are, the more they tend to suffer during the season of hunger and sickness.

This book takes an overall view of the seasonality problem. The first three chapters consider the importance of seasonality, explore its climatic and social roots and examine the evidence as to its impact on the disadvantaged. Ways in which environmental diversity can modify the effects of seasonality are discussed, also how societies have traditionally used such diversity for countering the challenge of seasonality. Special problems of developing countries in meeting this challenge are considered. In particular, the change in the nature of the problem with the breakdown of traditional counter-seasonal strategies with population growth, resource depletion and technological change.