NGOs are defined here as non-state development-oriented organizations. These are mainly  the west based  NGOs that provide services either directly to the rural poor or to grass-roots local  organizations, and with the local branches of international NGOs that enjoy varying degrees of autonomy.  There exists wide diversity of origins and philosophy. Some NGOs were set up by  professionals or academics, other are based on religious principles, on a broadly humanitarian culture, and yet others were set up as quasi-consultancy concerns in response to recent donor-funding initiatives. Their ideological orientations also differ widely in relation to agricultural technology: many are concerned with low external input agriculture, others pursue fundamentally organic approaches.