Reimagining Agriculture for Poverty Alleviation and other Development Goals

Since the seminal work of Arthur Lewis (1954) on Dual Sector Economy, development economics literature has emphasised structural transformation of economy marked by decline in share of agriculture in economy’s output and employment as an economy grows from low income towards middle and higher income. Based on this literature, policy emphasis for growth and development tilted towards non agriculture sectors especially manufacturing. In some cases this even led to overlooking the role of agriculture in development, which is qualitatively different than role of non agriculture in growth and development. Of late, there is a realization that the importance of agriculture for economy and society is much larger than what is revealed by its share in GDP. This implies that changes in share of agriculture in GDP is not a best guide for policies on growth and development. Everywhere, changes in occupation structure followed changes in structure of output with a long time gap. In some of the emerging economies the two shares i.e. share of agriculture in GDP and workforce are moving parallel instead of showing convergence. This has serious implications for employment and disparities in per worker income in agriculture and non agriculture, which is further related to poverty. Hunger at global level and in a large number of countries is showing increase after 2015 despite increase in per capita food output. More than 3 billion people are reported to be unable to afford healthy diets in 2020. Agriculture is also significant contributor to climate change and unsustainable use of natural resources. Such trends are threatening life of people and planet. There is a pressing need to reimagine agriculture and its role in nutrition and health and for inclusive and sustainable development.