Describes cooperatives as a new socioeconomic strategy for rural economic development. Cooperatives involve local control, local ownership, and empowerment through organization. Categorizes and gives examples of cooperatives in agriculture, retail grocery, credit, crafts, and health. Suggests some reasons why cooperatives tend to be ignored in…

Describes history, organizational problems and activities of Paraguay's Asociacion de Agricultores de Alto Parana (ASAGRAPA) and Programa de Ayuda Cristiana (PAC), farmer organizations. Details how cotton production losses forced farmers to invent new, varied markets, turning subsistence crops (peanuts, corn, and rice) into cash crops, while…

One hundred years of rural development in India is surveyed, tracing the impact of colonial administration up to and including the decades of independence--an administration built on elitism, centralism, and paternalism. Four major rural problems of famine, abuses of land tenure, peasant indebtedness, and rural disaffection and how political…

A consolidated summary of information submitted by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agencies and State Rural Development (RD) Committees, this sixth annual report on USDA information and technical assistance includes USDA organizational arrangements for rural assistance, some assessments, research supporting RD information and technical…