Cultivated Capital: Agriculture, Food Systems and Sustainable Development

Cultivated capital lies at the heart of concerns about sustainable development for 3 reasons: First, sustaining agricultural productivity is essential to meeting the world’s still growing demand for food. Without adequate food consumption, nutrition and labour productivity are impaired, which in turn limits the pace of economic growth and poverty alleviation. Second, removing poverty requires income growth among the rural poor, many of whom continue to rely on agriculture-based economic systems which generate not just food but also income, fuel, employment, services, and demand for non-food inputs. Third, removing rural food insecurity is a prerequisite to sustaining natural ecosystems since it is the poor who are forced to over-exploit local resources to survive today, thereby compromising their chances of survival in the longer-term. This paper explores interactions among ecology, agriculture and food security with a focus on least developed countries.