Destruction of rural subsistence economy

The rural subsistence economy, the part of the economy from which until now the bulk of the rural population of developing countries produced its requirements, is being subjected to continual encroachments and destruction by capital-intensive export-agriculture, industrialization, and depredation of the environment. It is the destruction of this sector (a sector only partly integrated into the world economy and still partly autonomous) which is the root cause of the emigration of large parts of the rural population.