decades. But if the enthusiasm of delegates to the World Food Conference for agricultural develop- ment translates itself into investment priorities at home, a number of coun- tries that can ill afford it could end up with high-cost food industries that will help neither the poor in towns nor the majority of people in rural areas. Both books shy away from advocating open, trade-oriented solutions to the food pro- blem. Both seem to equate reliance on imports with political subjugation. But

dependence is a two-way street: exporters rely on importers. A broader approach to food problems may have led to a more eclectic though less dramatic conclusion.

Such an approach could begin by acknowledging that each country is an individual political decision unit, characterised by a unique set of domestic resource contraints and by a set of external conditions - some of which by taking thought it can modify. The country faces problems which stem from the gap between its aspirations and reality. It assesses the perceived alter- natives. They will include, inter alia, a policy on food supply - including domestic supply, stocks, and commer- cial. concessional, or bilateral trade sources - and a policy on food distribu- tion, allied to social programmes and general nutritional requirements. Along the way, problems of urban poverty, non-agricultural production and ex- ports, regional trading blocs, balance of payments measures, and inter-sectoral allocation of investment funds will be met and put into perspective. Among the options for any individual country might be a radical or revolutionary change in agricultural organisation and tenure. But there seems little in the pre- sent food situation to impel countries along this road if they do not wish it.

Such an approach would not appeal to an internationalist seeking ‘a’ solution to ‘a’ world problem. But if the problem appears in different guises in different countries why should one not suggest different remedies? And if the authors do have particular countries in mind, why not anchor these remedies firmly in the political, social, institutional and economic framework of those coun- tries?

Lest it be thought that my comments on the style and the approach taken in

FOOD POLICY November 1976

these books implies that I think they serve no purpose, let me make amends. Sinha in particular provides a good syn- opsis of several aspects of the world food problem, including a section on the choice of agricultural production techniques, and a chapter on the trading problems of developing countries. His discussion of the world food situation is balanced and acute, and he has some in- teresting observations an international institutions and their recent activities. The book helps to fill a gap for both concerned layman and harried student. Power and Holenstien aim at those who like facts and opinions thrust at them and have no time for equivocation. Both help to keep a vita1 problem in the public eye.

Tim Josling

Department of Agricultural

Economics and Management, Un~~e~sit~ of Reading

UK.

AGRICULTURALTRADE POLICIES

by J.C. Nagel

767 pages, 1976, f6.25, Saxon

House, Lexington Books, D.C. Heath

Ltd, Farnborough, Hants, UK.

WORLD FOOD PROBLEMS AND

PROSPECTS

by D. Gale Johnson

83 pages, 1975, $3.00, American

Enterprises Institute for Pubfic Policy

Research, Washington DC, USA.

COMMODITY TRADE OF THE THIRD

WORLD

192 pages, 1975, fB.50, Macmillan,

London, UK.

Effective writing on agricultural policy must fall into one of two categories. The discipline can be restricted to the world of managerial economics, where ultimate policy objectives are clearly laid down and where the most that can come from economics is either a refine- ment in data analysis to ensure that operating decisions square with objec- tives or suggestions of workable com- promises between conflicting interests and objectives in those rare cases which politicians and civil servants have not sorted out for themselves already. Alter- natively economists can address

Books

themselves to the manifest economic in- justices between and within nations, to highlight causes and measure extent - in both cases to edge politicians towards solutions which they already know but which for one reason or another will not adopt. If one despairs of the pace of reform in pluralistic societies one pre- sumably grasps at the promises of the despotic solution, now generally Marxist or militaristic, and hopes for the best.

Mr J.C. Nagel, an eminent Irish civil servant and much involved in FAO and other international agencies, is mostly concerned with the managerial economics of international agricultural policies with a heavy emphasis on the interests and concerns of developed countries. His book is a concise sum- mary of the evolution of world agricultural production and trade and the principal policy issues through to the end of 1974, taking in the com- modity boom of 1972-74, the impact of Eastern Bloc purchases and an outline of several important issues on the current agenda. It brings together in a compact summary much of the statistical back-up from FAO, the World Bank and the like which baas formed the basis of discussion at the 1974 World Food Conference and sub- sequent intergovernment activities.

There are a few surprising omissions. International or national meat policies appear to be overlooked; the review of the reasons for the recent commodity boom is incomplete; and the more pessimistic interpretations of future world food prospects are insufficiently explored. Some readers will regret that the thoroughness of the analysis on the current international sugar situation (33 pages out of the total text) has not been extended to, say, cereals, meat and dairy products and that the general pro- blems associated with EEC surplus agricultural capacity has not received more attention. However, Mr Nagel’s book provides a stimulating and very readable review which cannot be found so easily elsewhere.

Professor Gale Johnson’s monograph concentrates entirely on the events of the last four or five years. He gives a much more detailed analysis of the re- cent commodity boom - although once again the world cattle cycle is ignored - and reviews in some detail several of the principal issues which have arisen from

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