Agricultural Development and Economic Transformation

John W. Mellor is Professor Emeritus, Cornell University, USA, and President of John Mellor Associates, Inc., a policy consulting firm. He was previously Professor of Agricultural Economics, Economics and Asian Studies; Associate Director and Acting Director of the Center for International Studies, Cornell University; Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute; and Chief Economist of the United States Agency for International Development. He was the recipient of the Wihuri Prize (Finland) and the Presidential Award (The Reagan White House, USA) for efforts to alleviate hunger, and he is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Agricultural Economics Association.

“The book offers a detailed roadmap for government-driven structural transformation via small-farm agriculture. The prose in the book is remarkably accessible to practitioners, students, and applied economists. … amount of detail Mellor offers from agricultural development in different developing countries is an achievement, and the book makes for an engaging read.” (Sumit Mishra, Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Vol. 63 (2), 2019)

• 1. Introduction.- 2. The Economic Transformation.- 3. Measuring the Impact of Agricultural Growth on the Economic Transformation.- 4. Poverty, Food Security, and Nutrition.- 5. Capital Formation and the Exchange Rate.- 6. The Farm, The Farmer, and Labor Supply.- 7. Land and Land Tenure.- 8. Government and the Institutions of Modernization.- 9. Physical Infrastructure.- 10. Education and Health.- 11. Prices and Price Policy.- 12. Research and Extension.- 13. Purchased Inputs.- 14. Finance for the Small Commercial Farmer.- 15. Cities, Consumption, and Marketing Dynamics.- 16. The Role of Foreign Aid.- 17. Conclusion.