Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The review of literature reveals that there are many determinants for agricultural
output with various sources, namely, economic, social, environmental, and biologi-
cal. In the group of European Union countries having larger dimensions and those
that had financial help from International Institutions, such as Portugal, Ireland, and
Greece, the statistical information indicates that the economic problems of coun-
tries such as Portugal and Greece will indeed last for some years.
The reality of the BRICS countries is, also, indeed very different in many
variables across several dimensions. The statistical data shows that, namely India
has many economic and social fragilities and, in some cases, so too does Brazil. In
terms of agricultural performance, China and India have a lower farming produc-
tivity whereas South Africa and Russia demonstrate the best performance.
From the variables considered, related with sustainability in the Portuguese
context, only the population density presents a negative impact upon the economic
performance of the whole economic dynamic and the agricultural sector. These
conclusions may be an important indication for public institutions in the definition
of their public policies, namely when searching for a sustainable development.
The evolution of the productivity growth rate among the Portuguese NUTs III
and the several groups of manufacturing considered is not uniform and there are
some regions where this variable, on average, presents negative values such as in
the Algarve, A¸ores, and Madeira. The variables considered related to the environ-
ment have little impact on these relationships.
The review of literature shows that rural development has many problems, with
difficult solutions, but the possible solutions must take the farmers and the rural
economic and social operators into account, because they are the ones who know
these areas and their dynamics well. In Portuguese municipalities there is evidence
of desertification from rural areas with some rise in congestion in urban areas.