Suchergebnisse

As their countries emerged from colonial status, indigenous private entrepreneurs in tropical Africa turned to their governments for what they regarded as indispensable assistance. African businessmen, hampered by strong expatriate competitors (in many cases dominating their sectors), by foreign-owned banks unwilling to provide them with necessary credits, by their own managerial weakness, and by other severe disabilities, concluded that the broad and generous patronage of the central government was essential to the realisation of their aspirations for greater wealth and economic power.

Barring the global catastrophe envisioned by the Club of Rome, poverty will prove a more intractable problem than low productivity in the Third World. Much greater attention will have to be paid to the distribution of income, jobs, and foodgrains in the future if increases in production are to actually reduce hunger. The failure of many countries to manage their food supplies adequately and to provide basic food security to their populations is explained both by an urban bias in planning and by the sheer administrative complications and costs of stabilizing the foodgrains markets. For many countries dependency was politically easier. Major efforts to increase basic food production are essential in most developing countries, but the political adjustments associated with that decision may be difficult. The institutional patterns required to induce an agricultural revolution will challenge existing patterns of power and social stratification.