The policy analysis matrix for agricultural development, By Eric A Monke & Scott R Pearson, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 1989

Abstract

Interest in the analysis of agricultural policy is a relatively recent phenomenon. Before the mid-1960s, industrialization was seen as the key to economic development in most developing countries. Accordingly, government resources and policies were focused on the promotion of industry, and the agricultural sector was thought of primarily as a pool of resources for the development of the nonagricultural sector. Capital for new industrial investment would be obtained from taxes on the rural population or on agricultural out- put; labor requirements would be met by the removal of labor from the agricultural sector. Because much of the agricultural labor force was thought to be unproductive, food production would not decline.