ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 traced the major post-war trends in development thinking and, in particular, the recent emergence of the concept of sustainable economic development. This coincided with, and indeed in part grew out of, a search for a new, post green-revolution approach to agriculture in the Third World, which would place greater emphasis on sustainability and equity. In this chapter we intend to examine more closely what “sustainability” implies, both in theory and practice, and how it relates to other measures of agricultural performance.
