Changements techniques et options de développement rural en économie de plantation : quel devenir pour les agricultures caribéennes ?

This article deals with the study of certain socio-economic factors influencing on the choice of agricultural techniques which are or should be applied in a given economic system, the plantation economy still existing in the West Indies. Since the end of last century, the economies of the West Indies have known a permanent crisis of outlets and production costs. A certain effort has been made in the field of modernization of the plantation system with the introduction of technical changes in order to preserve the specific social structures. The future of the small-scale sector depends on the strategy of the Plantation which has already excluded it from the modernization process. The negative results of this policy have given rise to a certain number of counter-propositions from planification and research authorities with one common object : to overthrow the plantation economy by inserting small-scale producers. The technical solutions to promote this category of farmers are however sometimes unreconcilable. These different approaches can be explained by the important disagreement in the analysis of the initial situations both of the functioning of the plantation economy and the nature and degree of efficiency of traditional production systems.