For farmers in the developing world, geography is not destiny

[From the Economist April 2018 ]

ACCORDING to the UN, German farmers grew 7,200kg (15,873 lbs) of cereal crops for every hectare of land in 2016. Overall, farming is 0.6% of the German economy. Meanwhile, in Mozambique, which depends on agriculture for 25% of its GDP, farmers grew just 820kg per hectare, a little more than one-tenth of Germany’s yield. Farmers in rich countries are more productive than those in poor countries because they use better technology and infrastructure, and are subject to better government policies. Geography appears not to play much of a role. When it comes to land quality and climate, UN data suggest that Germany and Mozambique are similarly endowed.

So what would it take for the developing world to catch up? Improving the mix of crops grown by farmers in poor countries, the authors reckon, would shrink the productivity gap by 20%. Improving efficiency—by adopting modern technologies and eliminating wasteful government policies, for example—would cover the remaining 80%