New Technology for Low-income Farmers in Developing Countries

Overall, the application of science to agriculture – largely by extensive use of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides – has enormously increased farm productivity. Yet much of the world's food is still produced by traditional methods on very small holdings worked under conditions in which many modern techniques – however potentially advantageous – are simply not relevant. This article argues that the problems of such farms are not so much technical as organisational, and that the real need is to introduce new techniques cautiously and selectively as part of a wider programme of agricultural support.