Monoculture

Japanese: モノカルチャー

Originally, the term meant monoculture in agricultural production, but by extension, it refers to the tendency of a country's industrial structure, and therefore its export structure, to be biased toward a single or very few primary products. This tendency is one of the characteristics of developing country economies, and monocultural economic structures were often formed during the colonial period by developed powers. For the mother country, the colony was a source of food and raw materials, and at the same time a market for industrial products. For this reason, the mother country's colonial policy focused on primary product production, neglecting or eliminating the development of the manufacturing sector. Although each colony achieved political independence, this economic structure has not been able to undergo fundamental change to the present day. Developing countries have no choice but to earn foreign currency by exporting a small number of primary products that they produce themselves, and thus advance their economic development. However, the prices of these products generally fluctuate dramatically in the short term, and in the long term they fall compared to the prices of imported industrial products. This causes fluctuations and a substantial decline in the export income of developing countries, hindering their development plans. While it is necessary to stabilize the prices of primary products through international commodity agreements and other measures, it is also necessary for developing countries themselves to fundamentally move away from monocultural economic structures through industrialization.

Source : Heibonsha Encyclopedia About MyPedia Information

Japanese:

本来は，農業生産における単一栽培を意味する言葉だが，転じて，ある国の産業構造，したがって輸出構造が単一，もしくはごく少数の一次産品に偏っている傾向をさす。こうした傾向は発展途上国経済がもつ特徴の一つであり，モノカルチャー的経済構造は多くの場合，先進国列強による植民地時代に形成された。本国にとって，植民地は食料，原材料品の供給地であり，同時に工業製品の市場でもあった。そのため本国は植民地政策として一次産品生産に重点を置き，製造業部門の育成を軽視あるいは排除した。各植民地は政治的には独立を達成したが，このような経済構造は根本的な変化を遂げえないまま現在にいたっている。発展途上国は，みずから生産する少数の一次産品の輸出により外貨を獲得し，それによって経済開発を進めざるをえない。しかし，一般にこれらの産品の価格は短期的に激変し，長期的には輸入する工業品の価格に比して下落する。これが発展途上国の輸出所得の変動や実質的目減りをもたらし，その開発計画を阻害する。国際商品協定等によって一次産品の価格を安定化させる一方，根本的には発展途上国自身が工業化によって，モノカルチャー的な経済構造から脱却することが必要である。

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