Mechanization And Maize: Agriculture And The Politics Of Technology Transfer In East Africa

Against a background history of international agricultural research institutions over the past several decades, the author discusses the complexities of political, ecological, institutional and technical problems in developing new farm technologies for Africa in relation to two major cases, Kenya and Tanzania. In Africa, she concludes, egalitarianism works less well than elitism for diffusing agricultural technologies, and poor governments can ill afford the development and distribution of new seeds and techniques on a large scale.