Agricultural Technology And Poverty Essay

2.3 Theoretical relations of agricultural technology and poverty

The relationship between agricultural technology and poverty reduction has been a source of fervid debate for the past four decades. The bulk of the literature on the Green Revolution technologies argues that ‘the higher yielding plant varieties, the greater use of fertilizers and the increased irrigation’ have been essential for the decline of poverty in Asia (Mendola, 2006).

The extensive review on a theoretical ground, there are several plausible arguments to expect that agricultural technology can reduce poverty. On the basis of the literature, we can distinguish direct and indirect effects of technology adoption on household poverty reduction. Direct effects of technology on poverty reduction include increase productivity

2.4.2 The empirical review of poverty

A work on the determinants of the consumption poverty by Dercon et al (2007) in rural Ethiopia they found that visit of extension agents, use of fertilizer, availability of all weather-roads and distance to towns, land and family size, and shocks such as death and illness and sex of the household head have been found significant determinants.

Amsalu and Wendimu (2014) revealed that farm size, age and gender of the household head and assets appear affect rural poverty in Ethiopia. Hassan et al. (2014) identified that household size, off-farm earnings and assets are important determinants of rural poverty in Sudan, The larger the size of the household and the lower non-farm earnings, the higher the probability of absolute poverty for the family. Having better access to productive assets reduce the chance of falling below the poverty