Agricultural self-sufficiency: The recent history of an idea

Summary and Conclusions It has been argued that traditional Third World reliance on commodity export production and trade as a means to accumulate savings for development is increasingly perceived as flawed. Post-World War II investment in light manufacturing by Western firms in the Periphery has also been characterized as an inadequate means of capital accumulation. Nationalist and socialist academics and political leaders in the Third World are voicing interest in food agriculture as a mechanism for economic growth; internal demand for food and other basic goods is considered a potentially more lucrative source of savings than international demand for raw materials and foreign investment have proven to be. Political trends in the Core area, exemplified in Left ideologies, and in church and voluntary organizations' strategies for giving, seem to reinforce Third World fostering of food self-sufficiency as a strategy for development. It is important to recall that intellectual trends, even if broadly based, do not necessarily represent or cause social change. The idea of Third World agricultural self-sufficiency is more pervasive than is its implementation. Nevertheless, current speculation about food self-reliance and its dynamic effect on economic growth in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, is new in development theory, and therefore worthy of note. Further study may reveal the depth of present interest in agricultural self-sufficiency and its likely impact on development planning.