Title:	Digital Technologies for Agricultural and Rural Development in the Global South
Authors:	Richard Duncombe
Keywords:	Agriculture Data processing
Issue Date:	2018
Publisher:	CABI
Description:	The population of the Global South is growing rapidly with the largest countries by population, such as China and India, and the poorest countries by GDP per capita, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa, showing the highest predicted population growth rates according to the World Bank in 2016. As populations grow so do requirements for food and nutrition. In this respect, improvements in agricultural productivity and sustainability have always been essential conditions for development to take place. Agricultural productivity (measured as agricultural output per capita) has risen steadily in the developing world over the last five decades (Benin et al., 2011). For many countries this has been a great success story, as improved agriculture has the greatest impact on the reduction in rural poverty. However, some regions of the Global South have seen greater success than others. A weakness in many poorer developing countries is that agricultural growth has been driven, to a large extent, by expanding land use – including de-forestation. Productivity has increased at a much slower rate than the expansion of land given over to agricultural production. In order to curtail the use of land, which is a finite and valuable resource, increased food production must rely on increased yields through improved seeds, fertilizers and irrigation. Another drawback of insufficient domestic production is a growing reliance on imported food. The poorest region – sub-Saharan Africa – spends about US$30 billion to US$50 billion a year to import food. As a result, the continent lacks funds to invest in infrastructure, social and economic amenities. If domestic production does not increase dramatically, Africa is likely to spend around US$150 billion on food imports by 2030
URI:	http://10.6.20.12:80/handle/123456789/48264
ISBN:	9781786393340
Appears in Collections:	Rural Development Studies

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