I make economic study about farmers’ community,?

Question

I make economic study about farmers’ community, and I need really answer for one question, why the farmers are poor in development country?

Answer 1

Farmers are normally poor because they have very little land and lack economic specialisation (division of labour). What they produce is (relatively) easy for millions of others to produce. They have a low comparative advantage compared with most of us who have education and training and some relatively specialised marketable skill. In addition as has been said, rich countries subsidise their own farmers (some directly, as EU, others indirectly, as with the price of water to fsarmers in S California) so the price of their crops is below its freemarket level. Sometimes the rich countries keep the farm goods out with tariffs, too. They are bananas.

Farmers have always been poor, it is manufacturing and then more recently knowledge-based service industries that create development. (Sure, there has been some development in agriculture too since 1750, but comparatively little.)

Answer 2

"This is blatently wrong. Developing nations impose far more trade barriers than do developed nations, in the forms of tariffs and quotas, as well as subsidies. Moreover, it is the US that is leading the way in establishing various free trade agreements (NAFTA, CAFTA, etc), as well as pushing for lower tariffs - see the Doha round on agriculture."

This isn't wrong, technically, but the developped countries have a protectionist behaviour concerning agriculture indeed, though it doesn't take the form of tariffs but of subsidies to producers.
Thus, the farmers can still produce even if their production costs don't allow them to break even given the world prices. And this keeps the world prices at low levels, making the farmers in developping countries (who don't get subsidies, in case you were wondering...) unable to make a living.
The case of cotton is very significant, as cotton in West Africa is by far the best quality you can get, and production techniques would make the area competitive on the world market if the prices weren't driven down by subsidies to US and European farmers (see the Cancun WTO meeting...).

These are for the current reasons, but you can find historical reasons for this situation in the setting of monocultures and the complete control over trade policies by the European countries during the colonisation period.

Answer 3

"1. Wealthy nations (US and European nation) are engaged in protectionist behavior and oppose free trade (politicians do this to get votes - not because it is sound economic behavior). This closes vast potential markets for farmers in developing nations."

This is blatently wrong. Developing nations impose far more trade barriers than do developed nations, in the forms of tariffs and quotas, as well as subsidies. Moreover, it is the US that is leading the way in establishing various free trade agreements (NAFTA, CAFTA, etc), as well as pushing for lower tariffs - see the Doha round on agriculture.

To the Original Poster:

There are many, many reasons why farmers are poor in developing countries. Far too many to list, or really go into any detail about, but....lack of well formed capital markets, lack of accurate and/or timely market information, lack of access to markets, poor environmental/farming conditions, etc. etc. One simply needs to do some very topical research into development to see the myriad of reasons.

Something to keep in mind is, are they poor because they are farmers, or farmers because they are poor?

Answer 4

Developed countries and capitalism in general promote more efficient ways of doing things. This has moved a lot of business away from farmers and into factories. Also with all of the opportunity available to young people, they typically do not want to take over their parents farms after they grow up. This has caused many family farms to die off.

Answer 5

Because:

1. Wealthy nations (US and European nation) are engaged in protectionist behavior and oppose free trade (politicians do this to get votes - not because it is sound economic behavior). This closes vast potential markets for farmers in developing nations.

2. Politically instability in many developing nation leads to reduced private property rights (like Zimbabwe). This creates poverty for everyone, not just farmers.