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Agriculture leads to the MDGs: rural development in Africa.(Millennium Development Goals )
- Article from:
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UN Chronicle
- Article date:
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December 1, 2007
- Author:
- Denning, Glenn
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2007 United Nations Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Agricultural productivity improvements have been a major driving force of social and economic change in human societies for millennia. The traditional production of crops and livestock fulfilled household requirements for food, fiber, fuel, medicine and other essential consumables. Surpluses and the income derived from them opened up opportunities for specialized roles for producers, processors and traders of agricultural products and for the emergence of specialist services.
This evolution from subsistence to market-oriented agriculture provided the foundation of a structural transformation--a dynamic process that leads to a relative decline of the agriculture sector and ...