Appropriate Technology to Reduce Poverty

Appropriate Technology, technology designed to be suitable to the needs and resources of a particular group of people. Appropriate technology relies on local skills and resources that fit into the local situation economically and culturally, and that do not harm the environment. A wider approach takes into account the processes of the development of technologies—the skills and knowledge that go into them. An explanation of appropriate technology and of the related idea intermediate technology requires a brief survey of the historical context in which these terms arose.

The last 250 years of human history have been marked by extraordinary advances in the achievements of technology and science. By the end of the 19th century there was a mood of great optimism that technology and science would shortly provide the solutions to almost all human problems, particularly those associated with poverty.

This mood of optimism possibly reached its zenith in the 1960s, owing partly to the achievements of space travel and partly to the development of nuclear energy, which seemed to promise a future in which the world's energy needs would be met by inexpensive electricity.

However, these optimistic expectations had already begun to be undermined in the 1930s. One growing concern was the impact on the natural environment of technological activities—pollution, waste, and overconsumption of natural, and especially nonrenewable, resources. These made possible and were themselves driven by the rich nations' way of life, based on high consumption and ever-increasing economic growth.

A second area of concern arose in the context of attempts to alleviate poverty in developing countries. It was initially thought that the best way to do this was to facilitate in these countries the kind of technology that had led to such prosperity in the richer countries. However, as time passed, a number of economists, in particular the German-born British economist E. F. Schumacher, argued that advanced technology of wealthy nations was rarely appropriate to the situation of people in developing countries, and that an alternative technology was needed.
A classic example of inappropriate technology is that of tractors provided for agriculture in Africa. The necessary infrastructure and specialized skills to keep the tractors maintained were largely lacking, so that after a short period the tractors became heaps of rusting material. A second example is a project that introduced an automated factory to produce plastic sandals. The traditional sandal makers were put out of work, the raw material had to be imported, and, though economic growth according to conventional measurements occurred, poverty increased.

This led Schumacher to formulate the concept of intermediate technology, something, as he said, “between the sickle and the combine harvester.” He proposed ways “to find out what people are doing, and help them to do it better,” rather than wrecking local cultures and communities by the intrusion of technologies that ignore local materials and render local skills obsolete.
Schumacher also argued forcefully that the model of development that the wealthier nations practice is environmentally unsustainable. He said that “the earth cannot afford the ‘Modern World.’ It requires too much and accomplishes too little.” The capital-intensive technology of developed nations was itself inappropriate, not only to developing countries, but to the planet as a whole. Schumacher was convinced that wealthier nations must adapt their way of life to be more local and more sustainable, thus prompting them to look at appropriate technologies.

Examples of successful appropriate technologies are small-scale hydroelectric facilities in Nepal, Wales, and Peru. Energy-efficient cooking stoves in Kenya and Sri Lanka provide employment for the producers, and save time and money for the users; food-processing courses in Bangladesh include not only the technical aspects of food processing, but the packaging and marketing of products.
Today there is a fierce contest between the proponents of high technology and those who increasingly support the appropriate technology approach. Advocates of appropriate technology argue that the high-consumption way of life of the richer countries must be abandoned, and appropriate technologies must be adopted in place of those that increase unemployment and damage the environment.