29 Conclusions

As pointed out in chapter 2, Thomas Malthus (1798) forecast that humanity was destined for starvation and dire poverty because of the disparity between population growth and food production growth. His worst predictions have not been realised because of the development and wide spread adoption of innovation in modern agricultural practices. Historical evidence also suggests that agriculture is the key to modern economic development. Gollin, et al. (2002) show that once agriculture switches from traditional to modern technology, labour is released to the industrial and technology sectors and the economy grows at higher rates.

One of the interesting feedback mechanisms involved in this labour release is that the subsequent technology ...

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