Asian Journal of Current Research

Farmer poverty is a structural consequence of capitalist modernization in both developed and developing economies. Upon re-examining the modernization processes of both advanced Western countries and developing countries in the Global South, it becomes evident that modernization does not inherently resolve rural poverty. Instead, the deepening of modern commodity relations often places peasants in an even more disadvantageous position. Modernization has not only failed to eliminate but has further exacerbated rural poverty. In Western countries, the approach to addressing rural poverty has been to eliminate peasants rather than poverty itself, leading to the continuous reproduction of new forms of poverty. Developing countries face even more adverse historical conditions in their efforts to tackle rural poverty, often forced to rapidly advance modernization at the expense of peasants' interests, thereby intensifying rural poverty further. Within the capital-dominated modernization process, while absolute poverty among peasants (agricultural workers) may be alleviated, their relative economic exploitation remains unchanged, and they are often compelled to transfer agricultural surpluses to capitalists through self-exploitation. To fundamentally address rural poverty, it is essential to eliminate the social relations and production structures underlying the generation and reproduction of poverty. However, due to peasants' conservative and dispersed characteristics, on one hand, the state must drive transformations in power distribution and production relations; on the other hand, political participation must be expanded to leverage peasants' creativity. This approach not only addresses poverty but also fosters new economic momentum and competitive advantages.

This paper adopts a historical and comparative political economy perspective to examine the structural reproduction mechanisms of rural poverty in the process of capitalist modernization. By comparing agricultural transformation pathways in developed countries of the Global North and developing nations of the Global South, the study reveals that modernization has not eradicated rural poverty but instead perpetuated it in new forms through key mechanisms such as capital penetration in agricultural restructuring, unequal reconfiguration of class relations, policy biases in state roles, and surplus value transfer within global value chains. In Western contexts, poverty alleviation strategies tend to eliminate farmers rather than poverty itself, leading to the concealment of poverty; whereas developing countries sacrifice peasant interests through forced accelerated modernization, exacerbating rural marginalization. The limitations of current poverty reduction approaches stem from their failure to challenge capital-dominated production relations, merely alleviating absolute poverty while entrenching relative exploitation. The policy contribution of this paper lies in advocating for state-led reforms of production relations and enhanced peasant political participation to break the cycle of poverty. Theoretically, it deepens the political economy critique of the dialectical relationship between modernization and poverty.