Agrarian reform in reverse

The provision of adequate food for all has become an increasingly critical problem in the Third World. In the 1960s and early 1970s, a combination of political and technological progress-agrarian reform and the green revolution-seemed to provide an answer to the problems of hunger. But in many areas of the world, agrarian reform proceeded slowly or stopped completely. The green revolution was neutralized by countervailing forces in the world economy-fertilizer and other agricultural costs soared in the wake of the energy crisis. Third World governments that had borrowed heavily to finance modernization were forced to switch to export crops to make interest payments. In countries where export crops already existed, the increase in debt burden further intensified the production of such commodities. Food aid and food imports often destroyed traditional domestic markets and price structures. Markets destabilized and farmers were driven off the land into the overcrowded cities, which had lost their historical food sources. The result of these processes and factors is an increasingly uneven distribution of wealth and land and a new Third World food crisis.

The contributors to this book look at the causes and effects of the new food crisis, addressing the public policy problems for both the developed and underdeveloped nations of the world. They conclude that if the creditor nations do not recognize and deal with the problem, increased hunger and political instability in the debtor nations may seriously jeopardize the international financial system.