Fight Hunger Through Agricultural Reform

In 1996, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) esitimated that we had been capable to provide 2,700 calories a day to each inhabitant of the Earth for thirty years already. In developing economies, today you can buy 2,400 calories for about $0.21, a sum of money that is available to most of the poorest citizens of those countries. Yet, almost 870 million people continue to suffer from hunger, malnutrition, and undernourishment: 98% of them live in developing countries.

Investigating the reasons for this, on the basis of FAO data and calculations by researchers, doesn't provide the usual suspects. First of all, it is untrue that world agricultural production is insufficient to meet everybody's needs. It is however true that the Western world absorbs a disproportionate quantity of agricultural output and that food supplies reaching poor countries are often inadequate. So the temptation is strong to blame bad food distribution and unequal income distribution for mass hunger, but if we stopped our analysis there, we would tell only part of the story.

Property rights and cultural traditions

A universal blight of developing countries is low land yields. The combination of low land exploitation and low productivity is so pernicious that in most African countries actual agricultural output is only at 20% of its potential. This means that simply by tilling more land and improving available inputs, the quantity of locally produced food could be increased significantly.

Why does agricultural productivity remain so low? Limits to available technology, or scant knowledge of these techniques by farmers can play an important role. But even these cannot account for the size of the problem. The use of relatively cheap fertilizers is still uncommon, in spite of the fact that farmers are often aware of the existence and benefits of such products.

In order to understand this paradox, one should recall the existence of certain social norms which often regulate the functioning of informal economies in developing countries.

For instance, if property rights and inheritance are uncertain, few will be keen to invest in land improvements or farming technology, both necessary to improve agricultural productivity. In the worst cases, land could remain abandoned. Socially weak strata are likely to be more exposed to land expropriation, because they command less political power. These people tend to be women. Thus, there is an ample gender divide in rural productivity, which a study on Burkina Faso puts at about 30%.

Economic literature also cites cases in which the compulsory solidarity towards the enlarged family takes away resources form agricultural investment, so that there is tendency for wealthier individuals to conceal their wealth, in order to not having to share it with others, by avoiding highly visible investment in agricultural equipment or land reclamation. More in general, social norms are crucial in determining how resources are produced and allocated within households.

Finally, individual and cultural preferences can also explain why when the economic condition of an individual improves, the extra income is not spent on high-calories foods, but on foods that are found most appetizing. It's a phenomenon that can be quantified by comparing developing areas having the same low level of development. It emerges that people do not often give up their food habits, and rather than maximizing the quantity of calories that can be purchased with their incomes, they continue to buy the foods that are most widespread in their region of origin, also when they are costlier because they are bought away from home, and do not provide the same amount of calories.

So in public policy interventions it's fundamental to keep in mind the impact that an agricultural reform can have on nutrition. Land reform can positively affect land yields, which in turn can increase food production and improve nutrition. On the other hand, other potential effects, due to the interaction of the agricultural market with other markets that is mediated by social norms, must be assessed. The accurate study of the specific social and economic context, and of the cultural habits and norms in a given developing country cannot be neglected in the implementation of agricultural reform.