One of the greatest dangers in the evaluation of development schemes lies in the comparison made between the extant situation and the projected future. The proposed change is often justified by consciously or unconsciously describing the present largely in terms of its defects, problems, and difficulties, while the future is forecast in purely positive terms. In rural development planning it is always difficult to foresee with sufficient accuracy the possible ramifications of a proposed scheme. When dealing with rural Africa, the attempt to evaluate a program for the 'modernization' of 'traditional' African patterns is even more difficult because of several factors.