Agricultural Development in the Countryside as A Catalyst of a Country's GNP.

Essay by mindthief October 2005

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Agricultural development in the countryside is a main catalyst in improving the country's GNP because of comparative advantage over other industries. This countryside development is a three-pronged program-technological, financial, and organizational empowerment for the farm workers.

To start things, formation of an organization that will be engaged in a trading system that will link the food-producing communities especially the marginalized sector to socially responsible consumer groups is needed. Second, our countryside farmers should strengthen their markets through formal cooperatives, which are capable of forging agreements with consumer cooperative of other places, local or foreign.

This organization will also provide appropriate and relevant technology to farmers, and avoid high cost of adoption and premature release of technology. Farmers' should be given instructions and support services like soil check-ups, which is the fundamental of sustainable agriculture and production inspection.

Then the organization will also provide needed capitalization to support self-reliance of farmers.

Capitalization will come from savings that have had build-up into a capital. Farmers should be taught how to be entrepreneurs through proper understanding of their system, powered by proper trading and management marketing. A big chunk of their appropriation should go to enterprise development and livelihood for people.

Organizational empowerment should be practiced aside from cooperative-based projects. The organization should provide development and leadership trainings for all members, team building seminars, audit and inventory, financial management, and marketing.

Then quality standards must be implemented from the start of the operations to avoid losses or rejects, and most of all consumers to leave. Road to market infrastructures will also aid in faster and better marketing of agricultural produce. Inability to match supply with the demand causes market price fluctuations and is often caused by lack of efficient transportation system.

In addition, to have value-added products and opportunities, there is a...