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Bautista, R.M. "Agricultural Growth As A Development Strategy." Economic Impact No. 66 Pp. 24-28 1989, L. I. Odey

Economic and Financial Review

In this paper, the author attempts a further exposition on the on-going debate on the feasibility of adoption of an export-led strategy of economic development which considers" Agriculture- first" as the engine of growth. The au~or strongly supports an agricultural-based development strategy because it is capable of generating mass employment, it is anti-poverty as well as being an hl.come redistribution programme. This strategy, he reasons, should be particularly appealing to countries with a heavy debt service burden since it is a foreign-exchange conserving programme given the lowerimporrrequirements of agricultural growth and itslinka,geeffectscompared with those of industry-led import substitution strategy. He …