Question

a full page answer:

3) Devise a strategy for improving agricultural and rural development in the third world. If you like you may choose a specific country (though that is not required).

Answer 1

Statistics on agricultural and rural development are used by policy makers, donors, and private sector decision makers to inform their decisions regarding a variety of important issues. While agriculture is fundamentally an economic activity, in that its purpose is the production of food and other commodities, concern about its relationships to environmental and social issues has been increasing. The economic dimension of agriculture consists of the land, labor, and capital that enter into the production process and the outputs that result from it. The output of the production process takes many forms. Some are consumed by the household, some are retained for seed or feed to be used on the holding, and others enter supply chains that extend to markets. Some of the products require processing, such as crushing soybeans for oil, ginning cotton, or the slaughter of livestock by nonagricultural enterprises. An emerging output is the use of agricultural commodities for the production of energy products. The outcome of the production process is income to the agricultural and nonagricultural enterprises, and to households—both agricultural and nonagricultural. The impact of the production process affects food security, poverty, and the performance of the economy.

The environmental dimension of agriculture consists of the sector’s role as a user of natural resources—principally land and water—and as a provider of environmental services. In addition to its direct use of natural resources in production, its impacts also relate to the waste and emission byproducts generated by production. Agriculture can affect the condition of the resources it uses, and with important implications for climate change and biodiversity.

The economic dimension covers agricultural production, markets, and farm and nonfarm income. The social dimension covers the need to reduce risk and vulnerability, including food security, and issues related to gender. The environmental dimension of agriculture generally applies to the sector’s sustainability and to its provision of environmental services.

The next step is to review the rural development indicators for monitoring and development and include those relevant to the national situation. Then each country should determine the level of geographic coverage and detail to be provided for the core plus additional items added proportion of households or holdings that have the item will also determine the level of geographic detail.