Global Poverty and the Impacts of Agricultural Technology

_{Parc National des Volcans, Rwanda. August 4, 2005. Children on a Rwandan farm. Anywhere you go in Rwanda, as soon as you pull out a camera a group of curious children will form to meet the strangers and shyly pose. These children lived on the mountainside farms we crossed on the first part of our trek to see the gorillas. Credit: by Sarel Kromer.}

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Research has been conducted which demonstrates that the adoption of agricultural technology can significantly reduce poverty. It is now possible to produce enough food for six people for every person in the village. For example, in India, where 28% of the population are living in poverty, a Bangladeshi family could break even by planting and harvesting five times more land than a typical family.

There are many different ways that agriculture can support further economic development both within and outside of agriculture. As an example, corporate farming allows large companies to produce agricultural goods at a lower cost (usually with less dependence on labor) than traditional methods do.

The effects of agricultural technology have been studied in the United States using a variety of methods. Within the United States, the effects of technology can be assessed through a number of different methods. These include:

Designing more effective resettlement programs: Lessons from transmigration in Indonesia
credit: Voxdev, license: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

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The impacts that agricultural technology has on poverty internationally can be studied using a variety of different methods including:
It is also possible to make changes that would increase or decrease technological adoption based on a number of factors including:

There are different economic models which explain how poverty may be reduced. The most widely used one is the Integrated Economic Model (IEM). It includes various factors, such as technological adoption, social factors, and natural resources to predict future output and poverty levels.

Geospatial Mapping to Help End Poverty
credit: rawpixel, license: CC0 1.0 Universal

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World Poverty, as a state of hopelessness and despair, has existed for thousands of years. One important factor that has determined the extent to which it can be reduced is the level of poverty. Poverty has caused many problems in households and communities alike. These problems include:

This separation between the consumption levels of rich countries and poor countries is not only a moral issue, but also an economic issue which should be addressed by improving economic policies because both poverty and hunger cause economic losses. If people live in poverty, they have less ability to pay for education or medical care, therefore reducing their access to other opportunities for development including good health, improved productivity and increased incomes per hour worked (GMW).

Conclusion

The results found in the literature seem to suggest that technological development can help reduce worldwide poverty and will be an important factor in achieving this goal. In general, technological development has created a more efficient distribution of resources, both economically and socially. Also, technological development has increased labor productivity and increased number of jobs available for people. Finally, it has led to reductions in infant mortality, life expectancy and fertility rates.

Current policies have been focused on increasing food production in poor regions through technology (with little attention given to other issues such as macroeconomic stability or market access limits).