This book examines the role that global policies have played in creating a crisis of rural poverty. The author explains the mechanisms of markets and supply chains, charting their impact on agricultural trade in the world's poorest countries.

The author argues that in order to establish a practical set of solutions, attention must be focused on wider economic policies, the workings of the markets themselves, and the division of power along the supply chains.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Those who have fallen behind
3. How poverty is made
4. Do the market’s job for it
5. Not farming but gambling
6. Getting out of the trap
7. Can we put history behind us?