The process by which societies develop technologies that facilitate the substitution of relatively abundant (hence cheap) factors of production for relatively scarce (hence expensive)factors in the economy is known as induced innnovation. The choice between land saving versus labor saving technological change has been largely determined by the relative scarcity of land and labor in a particular society. Population pressure has played a defining role in agricultural intensification, technology development and farmer choice of technologies. In addition to high population densities, land-intensive agriculture is also observed in areas with better access to markets, provided soil conditions are suitable. In using population densities as a basis for predicting the level of agricultural intensification, one ought to standardize arable land by soil quality and climate. The process of population induced technological change is by no means automatic, there are several instances where societies faced with growing population pressure have not been able to achieve sustainable intensification. Failures in agricultural intensification can be attributed to one or more of the following reasons: persistence of uncertain long-term rights to land; encroachment of cultivation onto marginal lands; collective effort requried for watershed-level protective investments; and an inappropriate policy environment. In several instances, inappropriate policies, both micro and macroeconomic, have created disincentives for farmer investments in land productivity enhancing and/or resource conserving technologies.
