Farmers, Food production and Financial markets: A review of the literature on agricultural sector in developing countries.

Abstract

In 2015, the world community adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at a United Nation Summit. One of the goals, is to end hunger and to achieve food security for the poor by 2030. This paper will review existing literature on the agricultural sector in developing countries, to illustrate why this goal may be not so easy to achieve. Agricultural markets, rural finance, financial constraints, and nutrition and productivity are some of the topics which will be reviewed, discussed, and criticized. The discussion will be supplemented with assorted data from Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, to present an overview of the current and past status of the agricultural sector. In addition, one agricultural household model will be derived to demonstrate the similarities and differences in comparison with neoclassical household models.