Appropriate technology for smallholders : some implications of social stratification for farming systems research

This becomes clear when, instead of viewing smallholders as a homogeneous group, as is usually done in farming systems research (FSR) literature, we delineate three strata of smallholders: peasants, petty commodity producers, and semiproletarians. Conceptualizing this stratification on the basis of family labor power and how its deployment affects the reproduction (or replacement) of household resources, we find that technologies aimed at peasant systems, in which returns to (mostly family) labor are used for subsistence, are not appropriate for petty commodity producers who use hired labor and who produce for cash income, or for semiproletarians, who depend mostly on income from off-farm labor. The policy implications of this social stratification for FSR programs are studied in general and then for each type of smallholder. A summary of viable FSR objectives for the three strata, presented in tabular form and separated into production, marketing, and storage activities, concludes the report. A 48-item bibliography (1956-84) is appended.