Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
This may be due to the fact that there are only three countries with a high degrada-
tion level, which results in large standard errors of the coefficient estimates.
The positive relationship between the land-area-change rate and agricultural pro-
duction growth or food production growth is quite strong with both significant at the
1% level based on the index measure of growth. However, the estimates are insignifi-
cant in percentage measured growth models. In contrast to the negative influence of
the soil and land degradation factor (LD) discussed above, the amount of arable and
permanent cropland is strongly related to agricultural and food production growth.
Reduction in severe soil and land degradation should increase the future availability
of arable and permanent land, which may increase agricultural output.
10.4.1.2 Summary and Conclusions
The result of the Zhao et al. (1991) analysis shows that price distortions in the econ-
omy and land degradation had statistically significant negative impacts, while the
change in arable and permanent land was positively related to the growth of agricul-
tural production and food production in 23 developing countries from 1971 to 1980.
These results emphasize the importance of “getting prices right” and implementa-
tion of sustainable land and water management practices if future growth in food and
agricultural output is to be sustained in developing countries.
After price distortion, the variable of greatest significance is the degree of soil
and land degradation. The reduction in overall agricultural (as opposed to food) pro-
duction growth caused by soil and land degradation is smaller in magnitude and less
significant statistically. The regression results strongly suggest that soil and land
degradation in developing countries does constitute an immediate as well as long-
term threat to these countries' capacity to produce food. The estimation in this study
failed to capture the off-site damage from soil degradation, for example, water pol-
lution and siltation of hydropower reservoirs and harbors. Thus, the actual negative
effects are likely to be much larger and more significant than estimated, since off-site
impacts of soil erosion are generally much greater than on-site impacts.
Most developing countries are more dependent on their natural resources, notably
land and water, and soil and land degradation significantly threatens agricultural
growth. Soil and water conservation is of great importance to sustainable economic
development. Past development efforts have been based on the exploitation of natural
resources in many developing countries. In the long run, soil and land protection and
agricultural growth are complementary rather than competitive, even though there
might be some trade-off between the two in the short run. Not only conservation
projects but also policy reforms are needed to protect the soil base. Policy reforms
require that soil conservation, proper drainage in irrigation projects, etc., be incor-
porated as an integral part of a development program.
The policy reforms should focus on increasing economic incentives for conserva-
tion. Since in the majority of developing countries, most agricultural activities are
done by small operational units, such as households and small farms, appropriate
economic incentives for millions of farmers are vital to channel development activi-
ties into sustainable development patterns. Studies show that the serious degrada-
tion is primarily due to the cumulative effects of many small agricultural operations
that are not affected by environmental regulations (Repetto 1987; IIED and World
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