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FOOD, TECHNOLOGY AND EMPLOYMENT: THE FARM‐LEVEL POST‐HARVEST SYSTEM IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Author(s) -
Greeley Martin
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.157
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1477-9552
pISSN - 0021-857X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1477-9552.1986.tb01602.x
Subject(s) - food systems , business , distribution (mathematics) , developing country , economics , food safety , perspective (graphical) , public economics , agricultural economics , food security , agriculture , economic growth , medicine , mathematical analysis , ecology , mathematics , pathology , artificial intelligence , computer science , biology
The prevention of food loss in the farm‐level post‐harvest system has become an objective of food policy in many developing countries. This objective is founded on the allegations that food losses are high, that technology is available to prevent or reduce these losses and that, as a consequence, hungry people will be less hungry. This paper first reviews the development of this policy objective. It then goes on to argue that this formulation of post‐harvest policy is inaccurate and frequently misleading. Evidence on the levels of food loss under traditional practices, and on the costs and benefits of technical change, show that at farm level cost reduction is the chief influence on technological choice; from a social perspective, employment and hence income distribution considerations are often the decisive factor in evaluating new techniques.