Agricultural Credit In The Less Developed Countries

Throughout the past three decades, since World War II, development has been viewed as an important goal of national life for the poor and rich nations alike. The emerging nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America have come to see development as a continuation of the struggle that has won them independence. Development of these nations is thus often associated with the ever continuing struggle to remain free from alien domination. The post World War II era was consequently characterized by an active pursuit of economic development. As the LDC's plunged into planning for development, the developed nations while pursuing their own goals have shown an even greater tendency and preparedness to assist the low income countries attain their goals of improving the conditions of life for the majority of the poor who seem to have been bypassed by the progress thus far achieved. Tremendous progress has been made over the past quarter century for virtually all the less developed countries incomes have risen faster than population with a consequential rise in per capita income. Such rapid growth has been accompanied by dramatic expansion of education systems, growing literacy, improvements in nutrition and health, increasing technological sophistication and structural changes including a growing industrial base and urbanization. A great deal however still remains to be done. While incomes have risen, the available empirical evidence suggests that a large number of people in the LDC's remain inadequately fed or malnourished, poorly housed and poorly clothed and not provided with adequate medical care. Furthermore many of these countries have not yet completed the transition to modern economies and societies and their growth and development continues to be hampered by a variety of both domestic and international factors. For many people in the LDC's there has been little or no improvements in living standards while for others their living standard may even have deteriorated. However, there has been a growing awareness and agreement that rapid growth and the alleviation or elimination of poverty are inextricably intertwined and that development objectives should focus on rapid growth as well as the reduction of the number of people in abject poverty. The record over the past two decades suggests that most countries in the underdeveloped world have either moved or are moving towards these objectives in designing their development strategies. The obstacles to development in the LDC's are neither homogenous nor of the same magnitude or degree and the diversity of development obstacles reflects differential endowment with respect to natural resource availabilities, economic structure, social and political institutions, managerial and technical skill availability as well as their relationship with the international economy. With average income per capita hovering around $250 per annum, alleviation or elimination of poverty will increasingly have to focus on seeking to raise the level of output from agriculture, increase the productivity of both land and labor, create jobs and thus curb unemployment and raise the wages paid to labor. These tasks are not at all easy and there is a growing awareness that twenty-five years is not long enough to warrant high expectations especially when viewed against the background that most of the countries in Africa attained the status of nationhood in the 1960's. Since a greater proportion of the population of the LDC's live in the countryside with agriculture as the main source of income and sustenance, greater attention will have to be given to programs that seek to improve the productivity and profitability of the operations of these people.