During the 1970s, major policy debates on the role of mechanisation in agricultural and rural development in south Asia took place; by the early 1990s, such debates had largely faded. Yet today, countries such as Bangladesh possess some of the most productive, mechanised and labour-intensive agricultural industries in south Asia. This paper reopens these debates in the light of: (1) the highly diverse patterns of rural mechanisation that have taken place in Bangladesh, India and Nepal since the 1980s; (2) current renewed interest in rural employment and rural economic growth; and (3) changes in global trade patterns.
