Discussion: Production Problems and Issues in Agricultural Development

Abstract

history. The institutional programming implications of this perspective are that the impediments to change must be identified and, in addition, that we must continuously identify the impediments to change generated by the transitional process. While the emphasis in the paper is primarily on the institutional aspects of agricultural development, the concern is with the total concept of rural development: namely, the alteration and organization of the components of a society, i.e., culture, society, economy, and policy, into a systematic and enduring institutional framework which will support self-sustaining growth. However, it is difficult to anticipate rapid advances in self-sustaining agricultural growth occurring unless the alteration in policies and in institutions provides for reaching and motivating the farmer with science, technology, and incentives. Thus, Dr. Parsons' paper might have been strengthened by a specific illustration, perhaps using Taiwan as an example, of how the development and use of institutions, simple in form but integrated in concept, created the basic matrix for organizing and motivating farmers, extending science and technology, providing roads and markets, providing leadership, and establishing methods of comparing alternatives for sound economic decisions. LESTER R. BROWN