Digital Technologies for Agricultural and Rural Development in the Global South

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dc.contributor.editor	Richard Duncombe
dc.date.accessioned	2019-02-27T06:31:37Z
dc.date.accessioned	2023-07-22T06:48:23Z
dc.date.available	2019-02-27T06:31:37Z
dc.date.available	2023-07-22T06:48:23Z
dc.date.issued	2018
dc.identifier.isbn	9781786393340
dc.identifier.uri	http://10.215.13.25/handle/123456789/48264
dc.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
dc.language	en	en_US
dc.language.iso	en	en_US
dc.publisher	CABI	en_US
dc.subject	Agriculture Data processing	en_US
dc.title	Digital Technologies for Agricultural and Rural Development in the Global South	en_US
dc.type	Book	en_US