ISHS Acta Horticulturae 77: V Symposium on Horticultural Economics
LABOR AND OTHER INPUT AVAILABILITY IN DETERMINING VEGETABLE PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY IN ASIA |
| Author: | P.H. Calkins |
| Abstract:
Vegetable production may be viewed in terms of three hypothetical stages of the development of agricultural economies: subsistence agriculture, intensive mixed culture, and modern monoculture. For each there are characteristic indices of production technology based on the availability of inputs and the quality of markets and public works, Examples in Asia may be found of the first two stages. The clearest example of the third is huge tracts of vegetable monoculture in the United States; climate and a high man-land ratio make this stage an unlikely endpoint for Asian agriculture, however. In a comparison of Nepal, chosen to represent subsistence agricultures, and Taiwan, representative of intensive mixed culture, it is found that appropriate vegetable technology is largely determined by the availability of labor and capital and by the consequences of risk-taking. The production technology most suited to each environment is the one which most closely reflects the relative availability of inputs in the resource base. Expansion in area planted to vegetables under appropriate technology is found to improve the level and distribution of income, the level if not the evenness of employment, and the level of health and nutrition. Present area planted to vegetables is limited by the adequacy of markets, the degree of cooperative organization of labor, and the education and management levels of the farm operator. Because of the differing resource bases in the two economies, specialization and trade between them would benefit both. However, an improved trade mechanism is necessary, perhaps through an Asian Economic Community. | |
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