Most development economics,
especially at low levels of
per capita income, is about agriculture.
In poor countries, agriculture
simply is most of the economy,
and for most of the last
twelve thousand years,
agriculture has been the most important
economic sector in all regions of the world
until of course recent industrialization.
The advent of cheap readily available food
is one of the greatest
advances in human history.
It has meant that human beings can
turn their attentions and energies away
from simply finding something to eat
to building more important tools or 
to creating more art and music
or to spending more time with other 
people or whatever it is they want to do.
Cheap food has enabled all of this.
It's common consensus that 
increases in agricultural productivity
are the most effective 
means of poverty reduction
especially for people living on, 
say, a dollar or two a day.
The growth in agricultural productivity
brings at least two benefits:
first, real incomes from 
farming employment can be higher,
and second, food is much 
cheaper and easier to get.
Agricultural revolutions are in fact
the precursors of industrial revolutions.
The Industrial Revolution in 
England in the 18th century
was preceded by significant advances
in agricultural productivity.
The success stories of economic 
development in the 20th century
were again preceded by advances
in agricultural productivity.
Agriculture is a base upon which 
an economy can build further growth.
Furthermore, simply having enough 
to eat brings many indirect benefits.
For instance, imagine 
a child going to school hungry.
The child probably will not
learn very effectively.
Imagine a child growing up hungry.
The child will be more prone to diseases.
The story of economic 
development is in large part
a story of cheap and 
readily available foodstuffs.
To read more on some of these points,
look at this reference or 
Google 'agriculture poverty reduction'.
