ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the major theoretical and policy issues in institutional development. Agricultural institutions and technological institutions in general, are frequently called upon to make organizational innovations. Reinvigorating the base of agricultural institutions is crucial to any effort to step-up the pace of overall development in Africa. Institutions include both rules and procedures that shape how people act, and roles or organizations that have attained special status or legitimacy. Technological institutions are notable in two senses for agricultural modernization. First, compared to many socioeconomic variables, they are more subject to planning and control. Second, institutions have longer-lasting effects compared to many other “policy-relevant” factors. As part of an agricultural technology complex, institutions play both a direct and an indirect role in raising productivity. Technological institutions are also notable for their indirect consequences. In most of Africa, the network of institutions is notoriously wobbly, lacking both influence and support.
