Repercussions of Food Surpluses in Industrialized Countries on Economic Growth in Developing Countries

Food surpluses in industrialized countries owe their existence mainly to two phenomena, namely, spectacular improvements in agricultural science and technology and effective price and income support policies for farm products and farm producers. The former have made it technologically possible and the latter have made it economically inevitable to grow more food than is needed by the populations concerned. This is what some of the industrialized countries, notably the United States, have succeeded in doing. At the same time, nearly all developing countries, accounting for two–thirds of the world’s population, subsist on national average diets which are nutritionally inadequate. The reason is twofold. In the first instance, their food production is less than adequate to meet their needs. Secondly, they lack external purchasing power to buy their food requirements from the industrialized countries who have the food in surplus. The food surpluses in the industrialized countries thus are not only physical surpluses over their own requirements but are also commercial surpluses which they cannot sell.