The increase in productivity in the subsistence sector as a key instrument to prevent internal migration: analysis of the Eritrean Manzanar Project in the light of the Lewis model.

Is it possible to identify the increasing productivity in the agricultural sector as a key instrument in order to reduce the rural - urban internal migration in developing and least developed countries? Can the incentive for migration given by the difference in wages in the two areas be adequately explained and consequently limited? Starting from the work of Arthur Lewis on the significance of capitalist growth with unlimited supply of labour, the research attempts to explore the causes of migration from the rural areas towards the cities within least developed countries. I strongly believe that, without the agricultural development, no economic growth could take place; moreover, the productivity of the subsistence sector should be boosted by progressive labour intensive technologies, which indeed constitute the key answer for a sustainable development. After a first theoretical part, the discussion follows a more empirical approach, focusing on the African continent. In the last chapter, the Manzanar Mangrove Project promoted by Dr. Gordon Sato and implemented in Eritrea represents indeed the most important contribution of this paper.