SUJAN PIYA'S BLOG

Technological change and commercialization in agriculture: The Effect on the Poor (Abstract) Hans P. Binswanger and Joachim von Braun Do the economic gains brought by technological innovation andcommercialization in agriculture work their way through to the poor? The prevailing optimistic view is that they do. But this view is not universal: some hold that these forces for change can interact with, or even induce, institutional and market failure, with adverse consequences for the poor. Adherents of the pessimistic view point to real-world instances in which the poor have failed to reap the benefits, or even have lost, from the technological change or commercialization. Where these effects have occurred we find that they are mostly attributable to inelastic demand or adverse institutional features; often, when technology or commercialization has been blamed for the decline in income of the poor, other—not necessarily connected—policies have in fact been responsible for the ...

In my previous posting, I mentioned about three sources of agricultural productivity- Input intensification , Technology change and Efficiency change. Many of the studies in developing country show that technology is regressing over time. I tried to see the case in reference to Nepal. I estimated technology change index in 31 developing countries including Nepal for 20 years period. I am discussing here only the case of Nepal. Annual technology change index shows that technology is regressing over time. I divided 20 years period into two parts- before 1990- Panchayat era and after 1990 democratic era. the result shows that after the advent of democracy in Nepal, agricultural technology regression starts gradually.

This is a video of mountain agriculture in Nepal. Mountain life is full of challenges . But, the brave small farmers manage to defeat such challenges in their daily life, no matter how hard life is. This is one of the typical examples of organic farming in Nepal. I would like to call it organic by default . Because there is no chance at all for the introduction of any chemicals through pesticides, herbicides and others. So, mountain agriculture would better be termed as "natural agriculture".

One handed hardworking farmers from Nepal. Life is really difficult for the poor especially disabled poor in remote areas of Nepal but in spite of such painful life they manage to bring smile in their face. Life is beautiful when you learn how to smile even in adversaries .