ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that social structures internal and external to the Third World are experiencing rapid changes, with implications that have only incompletely been incorporated into the practice of technology transfer and agricultural development. Technological inferiority in conjunction with increasing international economic interdependence has heavily shaped the nature of Third World industrialization and ultimately of economic development and agricultural policy. The growing numbers of peasants relegated to more and more minute and eroded plots are unlikely to be able to capture the benefits of increased agricultural productivity even if they do utilize improved technologies. The chapter discusses a number of barriers that are deep structures in the world economy. International political structures will mitigate against rapid, equitable transfer of technology to low-income countries. It considers a general overview of some of the major changes in industrial and agricultural organization that have major implications for the transfer and adoption of agricultural technology.
