ABSTRACT
Many factors explaining the poor performance of Japan in agricultural productivity are specific for Japan. Yet, the fact is that to some extent Korea and Taiwan share Japan’s experience of relatively poor performance of agriculture compared to other sectors. Other countries in Asia have not had similar experiences yet, except perhaps Malaysia with its rice sector. But it is not difficult to imagine that in a not too far future similar problems of unbalanced sectoral productivity growth could occur in other developing countries in a process of rapid industrialization. This is especially true in parts of Asia and parts of China, also Java, and even Thailand. The depicted pattern of unbalanced growth will probably only become visible in countries where employment in agriculture starts to decrease rapidly. That means that it is most likely to occur in countries and areas that already have a sizeable non-agricultural sector and moderate or low population growth.
