ABSTRACT
As agriculture becomes more productive, output per unit of land and per capita grows, incomes can be expected to rise, poverty reduces and food security improves, leading to reinvestment in the rural economy. In general, more intensive agriculture through irrigation has often arisen where the variability of rainfed production has proved intolerable. However, intensive agriculture has not always resulted in more rural employment and in many cases public agencies with limited budgets have had to make choices about the most desirable styles of agriculture. For instance, public investment in promoting rainfed agriculture may generate high distributional impacts but lower total growth when compared with investment in irrigated agriculture, where growth can be high but beneficiaries fewer. These considerations notwithstanding, the worldwide distribution of undernourished and food-insecure people, including those in countries in protracted crises, remains varied (FAO and WFP, 2010) and cannot always be linked to levels of agricultural productivity. Population pressure in resource-poor countries remains a key driver (Alexandratos, 2005, 2009).
