Main Article Content
Abstract
The role of agriculture in economic development has been a controversial issue. One critique is that inequality may prevent agricultural growth from leading to poverty reduction. Some contend that agricultural development can only be led by large farms and will not create wealth for smallholders The Millennium Declaration set 2015 as the target date for halving the number of people living in extreme poverty. Exceptional progress in some developing countries makes achieving that goal globally a realistic possibility. However, many countries will fall far short, and up to 1 billion people are likely to remain destitute by the target date. These countries were compared using indicators of their macroeconomic characteristics and, especially, their agricultural economic characteristics.