Borrewers & landers : rural financial markets & Institutions in developing countries

When it comes to encouraging production and raising incomes of small farmers, governments in developing countries have not lacked policy advice. Measures widely advocated include reforms in land tenure, subsidies on producer prices, research on technologies appropriate to small farm resources, and improved extension and technical support. Yet in practice, such measures are often politically difficult to implement, and they frequently encounter professional indifference in agricultural ministries and in other government agencies. As a result of such political difficulties and professional indif ference, those who offer policy advice are not often able to draw upon the evidence of widespread policy experience in making their recommendations. And, in consequence, it is difficult to establish the general validity of much of the received wisdom on the relationships between agri cultural development and, for example, tenure reform, price policy, appropriate technology, and extension services.