The Landowner as Change Agent in Rural Modernization: An Ecuadorean Example

In an era of impressive governmental and institutional support for rural modernization plans in developing countries, the privately financed, small-scale project can easily escape attention. A concentration of private funds and individual effort in small communities or single farms may occur for a variety of reasons ranging from humanitarian to pragmatic. Recognition may not be solicited if such gestures are designed to supplement existing law or correct difficult social problems in an environment of national political instability. Some landowners may react quite positively to highly localized problems to assure smoOlh functioning of agricultural systems where production is labor intensive. These private programs usually operate within the indigenous cultural system in recugnition of the behavioral realities of daily farm life. They receive less attention from the scholarly community than "showcase" projects supported by large institutions, perhaps as short-term programs which may impact on traditional society as intrusions to their lifestyle. It is possible that intensive efforts to plan and implement change have allowed field workers to overlook existing indigenous programs which foster positive change.