To the small peasant farmers of the developing world, to students and colleagues at Wye College and to my own mentors, especially Peter Bauer, who in their different ways have been a source of inspiration and of whatever insight I possess.

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There were remarkable and sustained increases in agricultural and food production in the developing countries over the last three decades. But the fruits of this progress were not shared by all, and many remain in poverty. Some believe this due to the unequal distribution of benefits and accordingly claim that an agricultural strategy which focuses on reducing disparities of income, assets and access is the most important objective for agricultural development. This approach is justified by claims of wide and increasing disparities of income in the agricultural sectors of LDCs. This paper looks at the evidence for such claims and finds that they cannot be supported by hard evidence. Indeed, the few valid studies of agricultural income distribution show modest disparities. Accordingly, redistribution strategies, especially those aimed at uni‐modal farm sectors, are rejected as unnecessary, undesirable and unachievable (without destroying the main spring of agricultural progress). On the contrary, it is urged that growth in productivity, output and incomes should be the dominant development objective to encourage, as many examples show, the enterprise, ability and energy of small farmers and their families. Such a strategy produces a degree of unequal distribution of benefits which reflects the distribution of personal qualities and endowments and acts as an incentive to their exercise. To keep disparities within bounds, agricultural policies relating to pricing, extension, credit, research and so on should aim at widening the number of small farmer beneficiaries of agricultural development.

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