Area development of agriculture on the basis of agricultural resource potential

UNITED NATIONS

' Ritï AN UJSTITUTE FOR ECONOHIC DEVELOPKENT AND PLA1HfiNG

{) t.(W'~ O.SA ~.A .

IDEP/ET/bs/2122-fo

.. k

~'" D A K A R.

C0UR3E ON NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AJ.~D REGIONAL PLANNliiJG

AREA .JEV:ELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE ON THE :BASIS OF AGRICULTURAL RESOURCE POTENTIAL

by

•

A1ŒA DEVELOFMENT OF

I.J~"P/fE~/CS/2122 -2J

Page 1.

AGRICULTURAL ESOURCE POT:B!J:iTIAL

Resource inventory needs to be made and resourcG ch~racteristics

analysed. The areas are then delineated on tho basis of :

(a) homogeneity of natural resources e.g. river b sin, lowland;

pastoral area₉ etc., that is, resource potent als₉ (b) homogeneity of population, and

(c) system of production.

These combined 1-lill sot the lower limi t of' the e ca. On the other hand9 the area should be large enough to make economiés of scale possible"

Areas thus Jelineated may not correspond to adrniJistr2tive boundarivs. Here₉ views may differ as to whether agricultur2l dev lopment measures

should be implernented by local authori tics vri th the s pervision of ^<

central authority or by central authority with the .o-operation of local authori ty. Agricul tur"ll development measures cannot le effectiv•3ly

implemented vTi th out full involven,ent of the peas:1nts hemselves, and tl:i:.:, may be better achieved by a local authority. On the ether hanJ agriculture

is technical in n"' ture and requires wide lmoHleù.go anJ experümce which a central authority is in a better position to marshall[anù. app~y.

A good compromise may be to ensure that the smalfest aJministro.tive uni t ₉ e. g. District₉ is the same in orJer to Di'l.l::e the co-op<Jra tion of

local authority possible. Agriculturql area boundari a m~y thon tr~nscend

Divisional or Provincial bounJaries.

Development may be org~nised in all the areas attonco. There is limi ted supply ·of capital ar1d of trained personnel an1 this appro2.ch tJay lead to diffusion of resources and of effort and ther foru ineffici&nt use of tho scarce resourcos.

IDEP/ET/CS/2122-20 Page 2.

Alternative appro~ch will be to concentr~te the sc~rce rosources on the area wi th--the-highest res ource cancon trn. ti on - -thé ¹ spearhe1.d ar Ga ¹•

Concentrated managem~mt- .:1nd ·e..:onom:i:es ·of· scale and other aclvantages of localisation of industry will promote rapid development of the area. It is oxpocteJ. that tl1oro will be split-over to the other areas of the country- the ¹spread¹ effect - through provision of markets .for tho products of those areas and of capital and manpower for invostment in th8 areas.

In agriculture, however, the 'sproad' eifect is limited by ttc f~ct

h., t production of intcrnally consumeJ. ,products is siLilar in rr.c:..>t p-ute of a count::-y and not complementary. The 'back-wasb ¹ ei'f'3ct r:~ay ₉ tborcfrn·e, predorninato causing grea ter polarisation of gro~vth ar 1 gTeator i.5p"l.ri -";y

in incarne. MovemGnt of capital .:1nd of l<.<bour - often the be~_. tor ty"'::lo - m&.,y be from the poorer to the growing area and not vico v~rs~. ~he o~~cr Darts may th en lag too far behind and future èi.evelopmont may be Jj fficul ~ o. g. Southern Italy.

Also such discriminatory J.evelopment may cause social and political rlissatisfn.ction, The peasants in the other parts uill like to get their sharc in t~e national levelopment, anci politicians neecl their votes to remain in pm-rer. This approach cannat, therefore, be .:1 practical objective of area levelopmcnt.

A compromise >~ill bo desirable. Development may be started in the area with tho highest resource potentialities and by intensive allocation of the less scarcc factors of production e.g. manpm-1er. Plans will be made to oxtcnd this to the othcr areas in the shortest ti~o possible. In-

tensive allocation of the scarcer factors, e.g. capital, will follow latcr.

A lGvelopment plan will then consist of setting out the time sequence for tho spatial intensive allocction of the procluctivo resourccs₉ and of analysis of measures required₉ for the development of the resource areas.

IDEP/ET/C /2122-20 Page 3.

So far, agricultural development b~s been of the ed approe1cb and this is not based on resource potentialities which in lliOst ases bave not been surveyed and analysed. In sorne countries, levelopment of an area witb bigh resource concentration is being super- imposed on the iffused develop- ment activity, as in the case of Awash Valley in Ethiopia. However₉ this bas been too recent to provide lassons on i ts acceptabili.t and on i ts

1 spread' affect.