Lack of employment and earning opportunities, and the rapidly growing cities and slums are the most threatening unsolved problems of developing countries. Processing of agricultural commodities could, under certain conditions, counteract both rural exodus and unemployment. However, transfer of techniques from industrialized countries to Third World countries hampers development instead of being a tool for development. Adapting processing methods to the skills and knowledge of people in developing countries, and adapting products to their environment and their prevailing conditions, is a prerequisite for rural industrialization and thereby making life in rural areas possible and attractive. Small‐scale industrialization which starts with traditional techniques and which develops these techniques to suit changing needs, will also create jobs and income in other sectors of the home economy, for example, in the building trade, wood and metal industry, tool and equipment manufacturing industry, transport, banking, etc.