This publication combines comprehensive empirical insights into NGOs’ work in agriculture with wider considerations of their relations with the state and their contribution to democratic pluralism. It aimed to draw out, as far as possible, general patterns in the ways in which NGOs approach the development of agricultural technology, work with the rural poor, and interact with the state. The book also addresses the role of NGOs in poverty alleviation, the implications of structural adjustment programmes for the relationship between NGOs and the state, the contribution of NGOs to the process of rural democratization, and the ways in which NGOs do, do not, and might engage in policy dialogue.