I can't resist another simplistic explanation of a complex problem.
Re the comment:
First, find out why the peasants are inefficient producers.
Second,
change the economic structure so that people can do things for
themselves - instead of passing much of their production to
the friendly neighborhood rack-renting landlords.
The peasant family is one of the most efficient farming units i the
world. With the advent of Standard and Mobile Oil Companies as the
premier food producers in the San Juaquin Valley in California,
production per acre actually dropped but the sheer size of the farms
meant that the owners dominated the system for getting produce to market
and put the small farmer out of business. This process was repeated all
over the country and is repeated in many developing countries. The Green
Revolution in the Far East was the same. Although the local folks didn't
like the type of grain produced, the cost of adding fertilizer meant that
fields were exhausted much faster than was the case with the small
producer. I witnessed the same thing happening in Ghana among farmer
friends of mine who worked the land by hand but were unable to sell their
produce at a profit when large scale farming led to a surplus [at a
greater cost per acre]. The myth that small farmers are inefficient is
that they go out of business first since they don't have venture
capitalists supporting them.
Bill Ward
