Agriculture and growth in low-income countries. Overview of debates and links to current projects in the DFID-ESRC Growth Research Programme

Abstract

This paper looks at the theme of agriculture and growth. This sector was chosen as, in many low-income countries, the majority of the labour force works on the land, and agriculture is often a major contributor to gross domestic product and export earnings. Concerns over agricultural development in broad terms are discussed in Section 2. The three principal areas of work of the programme are set out in Section 3, together with a brief description of programme projects that address the differing issues. The paper paper introduces a number of key academic and policy debates central to the DEGRP theme of agriculture. It also explores the role for DEGRP and individual projects in understanding research and policy on agriculture and growth