Pequeños Productores e Innovación Tecnológica: Un Abordaje Metodológico

CÁCERES D.

AgroSur

Universidad del Sur

Lugar: Valdivia, Chile; Año: 1995 vol. 23 p. 127 - 139

Using a theoretical framework that considers peasants as creative and open to technical innovation, this article suggests that the concept of technological space (Herrera 1981) has advantages when compared to other methods of defining which technologies are “appropriate” for peasant production systems. The technological space (TS) concept avoids rigid approaches to the technological question and may serve as a general framework with which to assess new technologies (NT). TS is a dynamic concept, since no TS remains unchanged through time, and the concept may be applied to a range of contexts, and at different scales. All those NTs not included in the TS designed for a certain community should be considered inappropriate and probably rejected for peasants (a priori evaluation). However, the opposite situation does not necessarily guarantee its appropriateness and incorporation. For these reasons, the NT should be also satisfactorily evaluated by peasants, who should find it better (i.e., more efficient, less costly, less risky, or less complex) than those technologies currently used by them (a posteriori evaluation). In other words, to be included into the TS is an important pre-requisite for a NT but it does not guarantee its appropriateness.