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A Delicate  Balance
BY ORVILLE FREEMAN
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The production of cash crops by family farmers is an integral part of
The development strategy of many developing nations; The commercialization
Of agriculture is encouraged by many experts, including the World Bank
However, some critics contend that the production of cast crops diverts
Resources away form food production for local consumption; given the expe-
Rience with recurrent famine in sub-Saharan Africa these observers argue
That the production of cash corps ought to be discouraged, promoting instead
The planting of food crops to ensure food security through self-sufficiency.
Yet, the adoption of such a strategy as the main objective of agricultural.
Policy ignores both empirical evidence and economic theory.
As the term implies, food corps are raised for the consumption of the farmer
And his family. While cash corps can include food corps surpluses that are
Sold in local markets, they are generally understood to be corps produced
Exclusively for sale and, in many instance, corps produced for export.
Example of cash corps include sugar corps (sugarcane and beets), oil seeds
(Safflower, soy, sunflower, etc), fiber crops (cotton, flax, sisal, etc.).
Vegetables (artichoke,cauliflower,onion,squast,et.)coffee,cacao,tea
And miscellaneous corps such as tobacco, oil palms and fruit and rubber
Trees. Foods crops, on the other hand, generally involve basic staples such
As cereals,pulses,roots,and tubers.
    Most experts subscribe to the ‘’theory of comparative advantage’’ in favor of growing cash crops. According to this theory, welfare is maximized if nations specialize in the production of those goods and services, which they can produce at relatively low cost.
    They can then export these goods in the world market and use the foreign exchange earnings to import those goods, which they do not produce as efficiently. It is the relative, rather than the absolute, cost of production among countries the comparative advantage-which determines the optimam production and trade patterns. Thus, if a country can grow tobacco or coffee more effectively (i.e., at a relatively lower cost) than it can produce, soy, wheat or corn, it should allocate its resources (Land, labor, and capital) towards the production of those cash/export crops. The income generated by the sale of these export crops would enable it to purchase far greater amounts of wheat and corn than could be produced domestically with the same inputs.
    In agriculture, as in other sectors of the economy, there is a continuous competition for scarce resources. Thus any crop can be said to compete with all other crops for labor, land, water, and capital. However, the decision to produce a cash crops (rather than food crops) does not limit the availability of food to the farmer, the community, or the country in question. In many instances cash crops are grow during different seasons or in locations where soils or altitudes do not lend themselves to the production of most foodstuffs. For example, tobacco is grown in rotation with such staples is maize, rice, millet and groundnuts. Coffee tree trees grow best in forester’s hillsides where the soil may not be suitable for growing such staples as maize or sorghum.
    Some cash crops complement food crops. For example, intercropping with tobacco reduces and, in some cases, may even replace the fertilizer needs of the immediately succeeding food crop.. The fertilizer residue also increases the yield of the succeeding crop. Food crops derive other important benefits from this complementary relations ip with export crops. According to a World Bank study by Elliot Berg, export/Cash crops are ‘’the nucleus around which extension, input supply, and   marketing services are built.
‘’ Farmers often buy equipment needed to increase productivity solely for their export crops, which can in turn be used for food crops.