Toward Sustainability Soil and Water Research Priorities for Developing Countries (1991) / Chapter Skim
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2. A Framework For Assessing Research Priorities
2. A Framework For Assessing Research Priorities
Pages 13-21
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From page 13... ...
The range of options needed can best be developed using a systems approach, which can facilitate relatively precise evaluations of problems, solutions, and results. It is not surprising that a small committee specifically charged to examine the complex problem of setting soil and water research priorities should decide that new approaches, as well as new priorities, are needed.
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From page 14... ...
A systems-based framework needs to be devised so that future researchwhether guided by the priorities outlined in this report or elsewhere—can be effective, efficient, and focused. Framework here means a structure of ideas, a guiding vision, under which research priorities are set—the goals, objectives, and program mission of the underlying organizational structures.
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From page 15... ...
In any case, the management strategy must exist in the context of the local landscape, cultural concerns, and land use practices. To ensure adequate and increasing productivity over the long term, the use of water, soil, and other natural resources needs to be understood within the evolving social and economic context.
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From page 16... ...
Encourage continued research on the specific elements and characteristics of soil and water systems, but in the context of the integrated priorities; · Take the results of past and present component research and integrate them to focus on current problems; · Incorporate both scientific and local knowledge into this integration; · Develop mechanisms to respond to problems identified in the field; and · Encourage dissemination of research results to the field and monitor the impacts to provide feedback to researchers. SELECTING APPROPRIATE ORGANISMS AND HUSBANDRY Throughout the history of agriculture, there have been only three methods used to select appropriate techniques for agricultural systems: trial and error, analogy, and systems analysis.
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From page 17... ...
specific cultivar based on a comparative analysis of the environmental conditions—is the next step in progressively more analytical attempts to match agricultural techniques to the local environment (see Table 2.11. It can provide a more global, process-oriented approach to identifying factors that are key to the sustainability of agroecosystems.
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From page 19... ...
To foster wider use of the systems approach, an international network needs to address standardized data base management and develop a set of common procedures to derive particular elements of the data base. The need to bring a broader understanding of processes together with the site-specific data is a key component of the framework.
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From page 20... ...
It is then possible to predict the effect of interventions and undertake means to control unwanted consequences, that is, to ensure sustainability at present or higher levels of productivity. The scope of such research must pass through various scales of analysis, from the plant and soil interactions through local ecosystems to the meso scale (river basin size)
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From page 21... ...
One of the critical issues in sustainable natural resource management is to develop mechanisms that allow farmers to earn enough income so they can afford to strive for long-term sustainability instead of short-term gains during any one cropping season. Farmers do have a sense of stewardship and husbandry for the land; it is a challenge for the research and development establishments to find ways to harness this stewardship for the longterm good of the farm and the farming community.
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