Smallholder farmers in developing countries have vital role in meeting growing the global demand for food
COLIN McInnes (Letters, January 26) suggests that the goal for developing countries should be to make small-scale subsistence farmers, "or at least their children, entirely redundant", replacing them with mechanised agriculture and releasing them for more productive jobs in nursing and teaching.
COLIN McInnes (Letters, January 26) suggests that the goal for developing countries should be to make small-scale subsistence farmers, \"or at least their children, entirely redundant\", replacing them with mechanised agriculture and releasing them for more productive jobs in nursing and teaching.
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That's fine as it goes. The difficult part is managing the transition. Even a country like South Africa, with its substantial mineral wealth and technical resources, still has large urban "informal settlements" with high levels of poverty and violence. In a country like Malawi, where some 80% of the population work on the land, and which suffers shortages of foreign exchange, rapid change would be financially difficult and socially dangerous. If the agricultural population were suddenly to become redundant, they would flood into the towns, creating the kind of Dickensian conditions which scarred the Industrial Revolution in Britain.
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Smallholder farmers in developing countries have vital role in meeting growing the global demand for food
COLIN McInnes (Letters, January 26) suggests that the goal for developing countries should be to make small-scale subsistence farmers, "or at least their children, entirely redundant", replacing them with mechanised agriculture and releasing them for more productive jobs in nursing and teaching.
That's fine as it goes. The difficult part is managing the transition. Even a country like South Africa, with its substantial mineral wealth and technical resources, still has large urban "informal settlements" with high levels of poverty and violence. In a country like Malawi, where some 80% of the population work on the land, and which suffers shortages of foreign exchange, rapid change would be financially difficult and socially dangerous. If the agricultural population were suddenly to become redundant, they would flood into the towns, creating the kind of Dickensian conditions which scarred the Industrial Revolution in Britain.
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We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.
Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.
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