The World Bank's latest report on worldwide economic development was published
: • some 800
in August 1978. It states: "
million souls [!] still live in a state of absolute poverty. These masses of marginally employed are deprived of food, shelter, education, and decent medical care." That is a rough definition of what is known as underdevelopment.
During the last period, which was one of growth and relative industrialization for many semicolonial countries, inequalities of income and consumption deepened. The standard of living and relative share of the national income accruing to 40% of the poor layers of the population in Brazil and Mexico declined. Ten to twenty percent of the population, representing the poorest layers, experienced an absolute drop in income.
A recent study focusing on Thailand and its artificial boom of the past few years shows that "the number of those living below officially-defined poverty lines has increased; the rural-urban income differential is increasing; and rural incomes are becoming more unequal." (Far Eastern Economic Review, December 1, 1978.)
In truth, the pattern of accumulation in these countries has meant a concentration of incomes, superexploitation of the working class, and pauperization of the peasant masses.
The semicolonial countries whose populations are still largely, if not in their majority, rural, are nonetheless becoming increasingly dependent on imports of food.
The shortfall in grain production in these countries continues to grow. In 1969 and 1972, it was 30 million tons; in 1974, it exceeded 50 million, and in 1975, 57 million.? Mexico, for example, whose corn imports had already increased in value by 67% in 1977 over the previous year, further increased its volume of imports in 1978. In 1977, Mexico spent $857 million on imports of food; in 1978, it greatly surpassed this amount. (Financial Times, November 2, 1978.)
According to a study commissioned by the U.S. authorities, the "third world" countries will have to import 120 to 125 million tons of food from the imperialist
"Size
Distribution of Income-A Compilation of Data," World Bank report, November 1974.
countries by the end of the 1980s.? These prospects led an analyst of international trade to write that "[hunger] constitutes a steady market for the major powers. In a word, hunger is 'good business' for someand a serious business for others."4
Several factors explain the obstacles to expanding the production of food for the internal market and increasing agricultural productivity worldwide. These include:
1. The alliance of the bourgeoisie with the landowning class in the semicolonial and dependent countries; this is necessary if the bourgeoisie is to maintain its control of the state.
2. Capitalist penetration of the rural areas, resulting in greater social differentiation.
3. The structure of agrarian ownership.
4. Industrialization based on the superexploitation of the peasant masses—who provide a source of cheap labor power and are crushed by the burden of taxes and the totally unfavorable terms of exchange on the internal market-while providing no stimulus to agriculture.
It is thus possible to clarify two facets of the debates on the "new economie order" relating to agriculture. First, the demand raised by the bourgeoisies in the semicolonial countries for stabilizing the prices of agricultural products in no way addresses the real problems that are at the root of the agrarian crisis. In fact, the concern of these bourgeoisies is rather to make sure they have money coming in to pay for imports of the heavy machinery and manufactured goods needed for industrialization. (Fifty-six "developing" countries draw more than 50% of their outside income from the sale of agricultural products.)
Second, the program of aid to the "poor peasants of the third world" put forward by the World Bank in 1976 itself largely corresponds to the profit needs of the imperialist agribusiness companies. During the 1970s, these concerns stepped up their penetration of the semicolonial countries, where they built true agricultural enclaves oriented toward exports for the world market.
The agribusiness companies to some extent took over the various "green revolu-
3. Ricy ares Prep In Nute, Washington, Bod
3. Research Report No. 3, International Food
(Quoted in The Economist, September 16, 1978.)
tions." They heavily dominate production for export (either directly or through their control of distribution), as well as the sale of agricultural machinery.
The projects of international public institutions, helped along by state subsidies, either go to prop up the power of the big landowners or are aimed at organizing the "small producers" and channeling their crops toward agribusiness. These multinational corporations now determine a good part of the "third world's" agricultural development. In a remarkable study, Ernest Feder writes:
"Though it is difficult to prove with figures, based on documentation provided by the World Bank we can state that the bulk of agricultural loans, including research projects-probably 90% or even more-go back into the coffers of the agribusiness companies. That is the implicit purpose of these loans. Given the penetration of the third world by foreign capital and technology, any loan made by the World Bank is assured of being placed in a sector where foreign concerns control investments and production.
The Transformation of Exports
One of the distinguishing features of the evolution of international trade in recent years is the growth in exports of manufactured goods from the underdeveloped capitalist countries. This growth reflects the relative (and distorted) industrialization some of these countries have undergone. It is itself tied to the combination of industrial "delocalization" carried out by the multinationals and initiatives on the part of the bourgeoisies and regimes of the "third world."
However, it is necessary to remind ourselves that the very great majority of these countries still specialize mainly in supplying raw materials to the developed capitalist countries.
Thus, the respective share of manufactured products and primary products in the total exports of "non-oil-exporting developing countries" to all of the imperialist countries combined works out as shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Exports from 'Third-World' Countries, Not Including
Notes
1. "The United States and World Development: Agenda 1977," p. 61. Praeger and S. Jain,
2. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, "Coopération Pour le Développement," 1976 examination (November 1976).
4. Gérard Viguié, "La Faim, le Marché du Siecle?" (Hunger-The Market of the Century?), Politique Etrangère, No. 4. 1978.
5. Ernest Feder, "Capitalism's Last-Ditch Effort to Save Underdeveloped Agricultures: International Agribusiness, the World Bank, and the Rural Poor," Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol.
6. For the purposes of this article, the phrase "non-oil-exporting developing countries" is understood to signify those underdeveloped coun tries not belonging to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
7. No. 1, 1977.