ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the human factor in agricultural growth in the context of its relationship with the development of the rest of the economy. It found that between 1962-1974 a little more than 35 percent of urban population growth was explained by net migration from rural to urban areas, including rural to urban migration per se and reclassification of jurisdictions from rural to urban. The study estimated that the natural growth of population in rural areas was reduced by 29 percent between 1962-1974 and by 75 percent between 1974-1982 by rural to urban migration and reclassification of parishes from rural to urban. As a result, employment opportunities became much more lucrative in nonagricultural activities, the pace of rural to urban migration quickened, the urban labor force grew rapidly and agricultural employment actually declined.
