Economic development in scattered populations tends to be hampered because of the limited availability of the factors required for the expansion of industry and business. In spite of long-range development strategies, prime land remains unavailable or overpriced and there is an absence of building sites for establishing businesses. In addition, an undeveloped market characterized by small populations and long distances from other potential markets deflates enthusiasm for new commercial enterprises. For many, the desertification, drought, erosion and flood caused by traditional 'development' – in the form of mining, cutting down forests, constructing massive waterworks to provide irrigation – are too high a price to pay for the dubious benefits received.
A third of India's 266 million hectares of agricultural land has been turned into wasteland by erosion, waterlogging of salinity – the ill effects of deforestation and modern irrigation.