ABSTRACT
It is a widely expressed view that in most Third World countries agriculture has tended either to stagnate or not to grow as rapidly as the other sectors of their economies (see, for example, the discussion of agricultural policies in World Bank, 1986, p. 61 et seq.). In consequence, what is often the largest sector in any given Third World economy has contributed very little to economic growth. This has happened despite evidence that agriculture can be a dynamic sector with very rapid growth, as in some of those countries which have had successful introductions of high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice.
