Source: World Bank, see note 21.
[* "Agricultural expenditure comprises current expenditure for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, irrigation and land reform" (World Tables 1976, p. 12)]
The reasons for some cases of bloated defense spending, such as Egypt's, are tragically obvious, but you may well ask who are the dangerous enemies of Senegal, Mali or Upper Volta whose governments all spend at least twice as much on defense as on agriculture. So many tons of paper and ink have been used to denounce the arms race that there is no way to avoid triteness when bringing it up. All one can do is point out that it is even more senseless in countries where a significant proportion of the population suffers from serious food deficits. "Defense" spending is now often used to keep hungry, rebellious populations in check; the hunger/arms equation is a self- perpetuating one.
We have already suggested, by noting the inequities of existing patterns of income distribution, that most of the increased revenues from commodities would accrue to the upper classes—perhaps one reason why UDC negotiators, also upper class, push so hard for them. But this is not a hard and fast rule. Whatever its limitations, the "trickle-down" theory does occasionally apply. Dr. Moises Behar of the World Health Organization notes, for example, that in Costa Rica there is a strong correlation between the world market price for coffee and the number of children hospitalized for malnutrition. When the coffee price is high, there is a lower incidence of disease and malnutrition and vice versa. Costa Rica is a country where coffee is largely grown by smallholders.22 Peasant production is frequently the chief source of a great many of the core commodities. Most people are aware that cotton is an important crop for African farmers, but are surprised to learn that rubber, generally thought of as the plantation crop par excellence, is supplied to a considerable degree by peasants employing only family labor. In Malaysia, 55% of the whole rubber crop is collected in this way; in Thailand there are at least half a million small farmers that make this country the world's third largest rubber exporter.23
This is fine when, as in Thailand, the smallholders are primarily concerned with growing enough rice (or some other foodgrain) to feed their families, and devote themselves to the cash crop as a sideline without being dependent on it for physical survival. Such situations are not, unfortunately, the rule and cash crop price fluctuations can thus make or break smallholders. With stable and guaranteed prices, the small peasant would at least be in a better position to calculate the optimum use of his land and labor— if his own government can be counted upon to pass on the cash crop revenues to him. For it is not enough that economic justice prevail between nations on a world scale. Before the NIEO can do much good for anyone but the elites, this justice must also obtain between the social classes in individual countries.
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"Before the NIEO con do much good for onyone but the elites, economic justice must olso obtain between the social classes in individual countries."
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quotes, for example, US chocolate industry executives lamenting the fact that the policies of the Ghanian military government discourage farmers from producing cocoa. '"The farmer in Ghana gets about 16% of the export price of his beans and the military government gets the rest' groans the President (of the chocolate manufacturers). 'There's no incentive to produce'."24 This may be bad for Hershey and Mars Bars, but it's worse for the Ghanian peasant.
There are two other strategies that mark a departure from the "trickle-down" ideology. They come under the catch-phrases of "Basic Needs" and "Self-Reliance"; often linked to "Collective Self- Reliance." Before looking at these important concepts, we should examine the kind of International Economic Order that is actually being introduced in the area of food and agriculture. Geared to feeding fewer and fewer people better and better it is being quietly introduced in the underdeveloped countries while their representatives are talking themselves hoarse in one international forum after another.