Abstract
The first part of this paper discusses five sets of forces that have had a major influence on world agriculture in the post-World War II period. These include (1) high rates of population growth in the developing countries; (2) a steady increase in economic integration world-wide, driven by technological breakthroughs in the communication and transportation sectors; (3) major realignments in the values of national currencies; (4) growing distortions in economic policies in both the industrialized and developing countries; and (5) growing diffusion of new production technology from the industrialized to the developing countries.
The second part reviews the changing role of international development assistance in support of agriculture in light of these historical forces. Such assistance successively stressed the development of extension services, food aid, institutional development of higher level education institutions, the development of research capacity, and rural development.
A look to the future is the subject of the third part of the paper. This includes a discussion of the difficulties in sustaining U.S. foreign assistance, especially when that nation is letting its own economic house fall into such disarray.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Additional information
G. Edward Schuh is currently Dean of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He held previous academic posts at Purdue University and as Head of the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. He has been a Senior Staff Economist with the President's Council of Economic Advisers, Deputy Under Secretary of Agriculture, Program Adviser to the Ford Foundation in Brazil, and Director of Agriculture and Rural Development at the World Bank.
At the time this paper was drafted the author was Director, Agriculture and Rural Development, the World Bank, Washington, D.C. The views expressed are the author's alone and in no way should be construed as official views of the World Bank. Revisions to the paper were made when the author was Dean, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, the position he now holds. Helpful comments on the earlier version of the paper were received from D. Gale Johnson, Vernon W. Ruttan, three anonymous reviewers (Frederick Buttel, Alain deJanvry, and Bruce Johnston) and the editors of this volume.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schuh, G.E. Historical forces in world agriculture and the changing role of international development assistance. Agric Hum Values 5, 77–91 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02217179
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02217179