Description
Book SynopsisLand quality and land degradation affect agricultural productivity and food security, but quantifying these relationships has been difficult. Data are extremely limited and outcomes are sensitive to the choices that farmers make. The contributors to this book - including soil scientists, geographers, and economists - analyse data on soils, climate, land cover, agricultural inputs and outputs, and a variety of socio-economic factors to provide new insights into three key issues:
- the extent to which differences in land quality generate differences in agricultural productivity across countries
- how farmers' responses to differences or changes in land quality are influenced by economic, environmental, and institutional factors, and
- whether land degradation over time threatens productivity growth and food security at local, regional, and global levels.
This book can be thoroughly recommended to policymakers, public and private sector researchers, university faculty and graduate students, and non-profit organizations for use in research, education, and decision-making.
Trade Review'Action is needed to fight poverty by sustaining the environment and the use of natural resources. Land Quality, Agricultural Productivity, and Food Security
explores a range of factors driving food security. The book offers an assessment to link quality of the available land resources with productivity of land and the ability to ensure food security. It offers a mixture of broad-scale assessments across the globe, with detailed case studies, deepening our understanding of economics and decision-making mechanisms. It is recommended to researchers, as well as actors in the private and public domain, who are keen to improve their understanding of the appropriate actions that ensure food security in the decade to come.' -- Floor Brouwer, Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI), The Hague, The Netherlands
Table of ContentsContents: Preface Part I: Overview and Data Part II: Land Quality and Differences in Agricultural Productivity Between Countries Part III: Land Degradation and Changes in Agricultural Productivity Over Time Part IV: Implications for Food Security Part V: Implications for Research and Policy Index
