ABSTRACT
Development’ is often equated with the structural transformation of an econ-omy whereby agriculture’s share of the national product and of the labourforce declines in relative importance. Agriculture has often been viewed as a ‘black box from which people, and food to feed them, and perhaps capital could be released’ (Little, 1982: 105). This perspective, long dominant among planners and politicians and common to both the American and the former Soviet models of development, reflected the low elasticity of demand for food (demand increases very little with higher incomes), the secular global trend towards higher labour productivity in agriculture (the same output can be produced by fewer workers because of technology, fertilizers, etc.), the limited multiplier effect of agriculture and the secular tendency for the barter terms of trade to turn against countries that export primary commodities and import manufactured goods.
