Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi

Equitable development is one of Kenya's current objectives, and will increasingly be emphasized in the next plan period. Yet, there is considerable evidence to suggest that development is far equitable at present, partly for political reasons, and partly because of autonomous development processes tend to foster inequity. This paper concentrates on such autonomous processes in rural development and proposes research to uncover present trends in equity differentials in rural areas -which result from the diffusion of new income generating technologies in agriculture. The proposed research also hopes to identify likely forces which accelerate inequitable development and which can be manipulated to produce greater equity. The proposed research will be a panel study. That is, a sample of Tetu farmers who were interviewed in 1970 on adoption behaviors, will be interviewed again on similar variables to produce insights in trends and processes. In addition, more detailed information will be gathered on variables describing levels of living, consolidation of economic as well as political power, etc. The study forms part of the Tetu Special Rural Development Programme's (S.R.D.P) extension pilot project which aims at developing replicable methods for equitable rural development through the dissemination of new technology to farmers who have remained or lagged behind in the scramble "to make it".