Institutionatisong Poverty

THE Small Farmers Development Agencies (SFDA) and the Marginal Farmers and Agricultural labourers? Development Agencies (MFALDA) were supposed to be an organised attempt to formulate special programmes for the mass of agriculturists who had been left outside the pale of agricultural growth. Begun in an ad hoc manner in 1969-70 and 1970-71, the agencies were given institutional shape from 1971-72 onwards. It had seemed even at thai time that, without any change in the basic? growth strategy which continued to focus on maximising output and bene? concentrated on those who were best placed to yield the largest surpluses, the share of the poor majority of farmers and farm labourers in the development process was bound to be marginal. Accordingly, after the initial enthusiasm, one heard less and less about the performance of the SFDAs and the MFALDAs.