The chapters in the book explore how the spread of Green Revolution has triggered the subsequent transformation of rural economies. Many rural households in Asia have been able to move out of poverty in the presence of increasing scarcity of farmland initially by increasing rice income through the adoption of modern rice technology and gradually diversifying their income sources away from farm to non-farm activities. Increased participation in non-farm employment has been more pronounced among the more educated children, whose education is facilitated by an increase in farm income brought about by the Green Revolution. This book identifies the importance of Green Revolution and non-farm employment for poverty reduction in Asia, which provides valuable lessons for sub-Saharan Africa.
Keijiro Otsuka is Professorial Fellow of the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID) and Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo, Jonna P. Estudillo is Faculty Fellow of FASID and Associate Professor at the GRIPS, and Yasuyuki Sawada is Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo.