Labour absorption in agriculture : the east Asian experience

The present volume contains several studies on the historical experience of labour absorption in East Asian agriculture completed by the ARTEP under a major project entitled "Increasing Productive Employment in Asian Agriculture". The project is aimed at generating knowledge and formulating policies on appropriate measures for greater employment generation in agriculture in Asian countries.

The original inspiration of this project was the observation that, compared with most parts of South and South East Asia, the East Asian countries such as Japan have achieved (at histo ically comparable levels of development) remarkably high levels of per hectare labour inputs along with higher per hectare productivities in agriculture. They were thus able to overcome the grave problems of land scarcity, un employment and low-incomes. In more recent times, some communes in China appear to have achieved even higher levels of per hectare labour inputs.

It was the realization that most South and South East Asian countries, faced with acute problems of unemployment and low productivities in rural areas, have important lessons to learn from this experience that the ARTEP initiated this project with a study examining the factors responsible for the large variations in the intensity of human labour input in agriculture among Asian countries. (S. Ishikawa, Labour Absorption in Asian Agriculture, ILO-ARTEP, 1978). This study also highlighted the principal analytical issues that needed further investigation for deriving appropriate and meaningful policy conclusions.