Technical change and rural development in africa: gaps between knowledge and practice

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Periodical article

Title:	Technical change and rural development in africa: gaps between knowledge and practice
Author:	Vitta, P.B.
Year:	1988
Periodical:	Rural Progress: Bulletin of the Economic Commission for Africa
Volume:	7
Issue:	1
Pages:	6-17
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Africa
Subjects:	rural development agricultural technology
Abstract:	The development of rural Africa will not come about without technical change, especially in agriculture. While present understanding of the factors that influence that change is still incomplete, studies have nonetheless identified several relevant factors and determined the nature of their influence. In agriculture, these include farm size, risk aversion, education and extension, labour availability, credit constraints, land tenure, complementary inputs, infrastructure and organization. Studies about technical change also contain clues regarding whether and when these factors should be manipulated from the 'top' or from the 'bottom'. But while this information is available, a common weakness in Africa's past and present attempts at rural development is that this knowledge has seldom been used effectively. Ref.