During the last few decades there has been a sharp transition
in economic doctrine, within the context of economic growth, on the
relative contributions of agriculture and industrial development. There
has been a shift away from the earlier 'industrial fundamentalism' to an
emphasis on the significance of growth in agricultural productivity and
production. The focus, especially in the context of the present-day less
developed countries like Pakistan, has sharpened with the rapid growth
in demand for food, resulting from the increasing growth in population
and the high income-elasticities of the demand for food. Coupled with
this is the transition from resource-based agriculture to science-based
agriculture. Agricultural economists are unanimous in the view that by
the end of this century all increases in world food production will come
from higher yields, i.e. increased output per hectare. This increasing
emphasis on 'land-saving' technology to increase productivity and
production has resuited from the growing population pressures on land
and declining land-man ratios. Agricultural research has come to the
fore in providing technologies that increase productivity and
production. However, these technologies do not explicitly take into
account the equity aspects of the problem. The extent to which the poor
gain or lose from the introduction of a new agricultural technology
depends on a host of complex and interrelated socio-economic and
political factors such as the existing distribution of productive
resources, access to modem inputs, the structure of the market,
etc.
