Agricultural Technologies for Market-Led Development Opportunities in the 1990's Book

This report is a compilation of papers presented at a Bank sponsored conference in Wye, Kent, United Kingdom in April 1992. The focus of the papers is on the dynamic process of technological change in agriculture and the effects on production systems. The papers discuss the links between technology and producers, technology and consumers, and technology and small business. The changing relationship between technology and producers, and the increasing dominance of agribusiness, has redefined the process of technological change. Agriculture is therefore increasingly treated as an industrial sector, rather than as a traditonal sector of development. The papers also suggest that there are always opportunities to meet the changing needs of consumers when the private sector is allowed to innovate and design new technologies in an environment with minimal restrictions and legal hurdles. If the private sector concentrates on improvements in production technology and processing, the public sector can focus more efficiently on the environmental consequences. Marketing chains, including supermarkets and food processors, are becoming important in determining the success or failure of production technology. They transmit market signals to producers and influence consumers behavior toward new commodities and products. The dominant message in this volume is that traditional models for technology generation and dissemination require serious assessment.