One major concern of the Third World, with its emotional and moralistic overtones, is the production and distribution of food. Unfortunately, however, the world food situation is very complex and any over-simplification is counter-productive. This article confronts the myths with the facts...

Since the Arab oil embargo and the US-Russian wheat deal of 1973 there has been much talk of "agri-power" implying that the United States which normally accounts for 50% or more of the world's wheat exports could follow the oil producers' example and unleash a food weapon to bring the Third...

China's rural development policy has divided the Chinese leadership since the mid-fifties. Since about mid-1977 Deng Xiaoping has been in the ascendancy. In the rural areas he has striven to rapidly introduce a number of far-reaching policles. These policies are discussed in the following...

The resolution convening the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development which was held in Rome on July 12–20, 1979 called for a "frontal attack on poverty... by a deliberate policy of integrated rural development". The aims and implications of the concept of integrated rural...

The "World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development" (WCARRD), which was held from July 12–20 at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, tried to set up new targets for urgent national and international efforts to overcome the...

When the World Food Conference of 1974 demanded the eradication of world hunger within the brief time span of ten years, experts and laymen alike were surprised. The target seemed too ambitious, and it can be safely expected that it will not be achieved. A study has now been submitted by FAO to...

Bangladesh is handicapped by very unfavourable natural conditions, inter alia extreme floods and droughts, an unfavourable pattern of farm sizes and the consequences of rising oil prices. For these reasons agricultural production lagged behind the planned targets in the first two years of the...

Until the middle of 1972, general optimism in assessing food supplies for the world was widespread. But since then, a more conservative view and a certain uncertainty in forecasting prospects have replaced the former high hopes. One of the crucial reasons for this change have been developments...