Mortality and working conditions in agriculture in underdeveloped countries

The search for information and analysis of the mortality of agricultural workers in underdeveloped countries shows that there exists hardly any research on this subject. What little information that can be found is incomplete and scattered, making it difficult to gain systematic empirical knowledge of the problem. In addition, data are not collected for the purpose of explaining the patterns of mortality observed. It therefore seems necessary to generate a theoretical framework permitting the analysis of mortality among agricultural workers. This paper intends to point out the close relationship that exists between the mortality and the dynamic of the social and economic process of agriculture in the underdeveloped countries. By doing so, we hope to show that the problems of health, disease, and death of socially defined groups are not simply a matter of biology, but of the interrelation between biology and the historical process of which these groups are a part.