‘Appropriating’ technology? Tractor owners, brokers, artisans and farmers in rural Bangladesh

Abstract

Although tractors have long been regarded by policy makers in Bangladesh as being technologically 'inappropriate' to local conditions, they have nevertheless been in use in Comilla district for several decades. The failure of cooperative institutional arrangements for farm mechanization in the 1960s has stimulated local rural entrepreneurs to establish their own custom ploughing arrangements. This is a response to a continuing draught power shortage and the needs of farmers to achieve a swift turnaround time between harvesting rain-fed paddy and planting the increasingly profitable potato crop. This type of arrangement forms part of wider entrepreneurial service delivery systems which are becoming increasingly important in rural Bangladesh, where small-scale agriculture interacts with 'lumpy' technological inputs.

Rural mechanization for equitable development: Disarray, disjuncture, and disruption

“…enterprises previously observed in Asia (Lewis, 1996), these ventures are firmly located within the current ideological preference for private sector solutions to development problems. For example, there are reports of problems ensuring that drivers do not mislead farmers over the amount of land ploughed or the produce transported, which was not the case in the arrangements that emerged locally in earlier contexts of Nepal or Bangladesh.…”

“…For example, Anidi et al (2020) have documented three information technology (IT) efforts to provide phone‐based tractor (and other machinery) hailing platforms in Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya, utilizing short message services (SMS) or smartphone applications. In contrast to the local informal enterprises previously observed in Asia (Lewis, 1996), these ventures are firmly located within the current ideological preference for private sector solutions to development problems. For example, there are reports of problems ensuring that drivers do not mislead farmers over the amount of land ploughed or the produce transported, which was not the case in the arrangements that emerged locally in earlier contexts of Nepal or Bangladesh.…”

Elementos determinantes en casos de fracaso y disolución de cooperativas: una revisión sistemática de la literatura

“…A observação realizada por Lewis (1996) se insere em contexto de arranjos cooperativos constituídos para a operação de políticas públicas.…”

“…As organizações constituídas assumiram a prestação de serviços de aquisição, operação, manutenção e gerenciamentos de serviços mecânicos. Segundo os resultados observados por Lewis (1996), a indução de cooperativas de cima para baixo e o acúmulo de deficiências gerenciais foram determinantes para o fracasso dessas cooperativas. Após o fracasso dessas cooperativas, aos poucos foram sendo substituídas por iniciativas empreendedoras locais baseadas na disposição de capital, experiência acumulada e relações sociais adquiridas ao longo das operações da mecanização.…”