This book is based on a field research project focusing on rice-growing and undertaken in parts of North Arcot District in India and of Hambantota and Moneragala Districts, Sri Lanka. It destroys the illusion that agricultural problems can be solved by massive centrally planned research.

List of Figures -- Foreword by Sir Joseph Hutchinson -- Editor's preface -- Glossary -- 1 Technology and Change in Rice-growing Areas / B. H. Farmer -- 2 Setting the Stage / B. H. Farmer, C. M. Madduma Bandara, V. Shanmuga Sundaram and W. P. T. Silva -- 3 Paddy and Rice Statistics in Sri Lanka / Barbara Harriss -- 4 Bias in Perception of Agrarian Change in India / John Harriss -- 5 Research Methodology / Robert Chambers, B. Nanjamma Chinnappa, Barbara Harriss and B. W. E. Wickremanayake -- 6 Selective Adoption as a Strategy for Agricultural Develop-ment: Lessons from Adoption in S.E. Sri Lanka / H. D. Dias -- 7 Chena-Paddy Interrelationships / W. P. T. Silva -- 8 Adoption of the New Technology in North Arcot District / B. Nanjamma Chinnappa -- 9 The Limitations of HYV Technology in North Arcot District: the View from a Village / John Harriss -- 10 Pahalagama: a Case Study of Agricultural Change in a Frontier Environment / John Harriss -- 11 Agricultural Extension: Myth, Reality and Challenge / Robert Chambers and B. W. E. Wickremanayake -- 12 Tractors, Profit and Debt in Hambantota District, Sri Lanka / Barbara Harriss -- 13 Rural Electrification and the Diffusion of Electric Water-lifting Technology in North Arcot District, India / Barbara Harriss -- 14 Impact of the Cultivation of High-Yielding Varieties of Paddy on Employment and Income / B. Nanjamma Chinnappa and W. P. T. Silva -- 15 Implications of Changes in Agriculture for Social Re-lationships at the Village Level: the Case of Randam / John Harriss -- 16 Social Implications of Changes in Agriculture in Hamban-tota District / John Harriss -- 17 Marketing Scarce Chemical Inputs: an International Comparison / Barbara Harriss -- 18 Besieging the Free Market: the Effects of the Paddy-Rice / Levy Barbara Harriss -- 19 Paddy-Milling: Problems in Policy and the Choice of Technology / Barbara Harriss -- 20 Comparing Twelve South Indian Villages: in Search of Practical Theory / Robert Chambers and John Harriss -- 21 Hydrological Consequences of Agrarian Change C. M. Madduma Bandara -- 22 Men and Water: the Organisation and Operation of Irrigation Robert Chambers -- 23 Problems of Water Management in Hambantota District / John Harriss -- 24 The Crisis and the Future Robert Chambers / H. D. Dias, Barbara Harriss and John Harriss -- 25 Challenges for Rural Research and Development / Robert Chambers -- 26 Perceptions, Technology and the Future / Robert Chambers and B. H. Farmer -- Index.