Toward Sustainability Soil and Water Research Priorities for Developing Countries (1991) / Chapter Skim
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4. Supporting An Integrated Research Strategy
4. Supporting An Integrated Research Strategy
Pages 43-52
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From page 43... ...
Traditionally, crop research went through a hierarchial sequence from basic research to field testing to promotion by extension agents. But this structure does not work well in many developing countries and is not adaptable to soil and water management issues.
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From page 44... ...
Private voluntary organizations and cooperative host country universities are institutions that are particularly important in this regard. Special efforts are required to encourage networks that link institutions in a two-way exchange involving researchers, research institutions, universities in host countries, private voluntary organizations, cooperatives, and farmers.
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From page 45... ...
The Collaborative Research Support Programs (CRSP) also support networks for their specific topics, for example, small ruminants, bean-cowpea, sorghum, millet, tropical soils, and other single issues.
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From page 46... ...
Although the WID network is still in its infancy, it has already identified important research needs, has had significant impacts on projects, and has developed an impressive body of literature. A similar organization could help define research priorities, provide feedback on the applicability of research findings, and integrate soil and water research into efforts to solve other resource management problems.
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From page 47... ...
This evaluation of field studies would also provide useful feedback to help guide the evolving research process. MECHANISMS TO SET RESEARCH PRIORITIES Although chapter 3 presented an agenda of research priorities as requested by AID, the committee unanimously agrees that research priorities will change, sometimes dramatically, over time, and the list only represents a first view of a longer research trajectory.
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From page 48... ...
(It bears repeating, however, that in Third World areas where labor availability, price fluctuations, and transport problems exist, such efforts have only modest predictive powers.) For instance, in 1982 an international group of agricultural systems scientists met at the International Crop Research Center for the Semi-Arid Tropics in Hyderabad, India, to specify the minimum data set needed to predict crop performance in any agroclimatic zone.
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From page 49... ...
The minimum set of soil, crop, and weather data enables the models to generate site-specific information for decision support. Models focused on human systems also offer potential, and the process of designing them could help delimit the critical human behaviors and beliefs that influence agricultural decision making and practice.
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From page 50... ...
2. Information about agricultural technologies and soil and water resources primarily consists of formal research results from individual projects or experiments and vast informal practical knowledge maintained and transmitted by farmers.
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From page 51... ...
Special mention should be made of the importance of women farmers and farming systems, so that research strategies include programs that substantially address their concerns. There are several means for achieving these newly focused efforts, including careful analysis of local societies and economies so that how decisions are made can be understood in light of gender concerns, economic strategy, and household strategy.
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From page 52... ...
52 SOIL AND WATER RESEARCH PRIORITIES Communications dollars should be spent on products that will put information in the hands of people who need it, in a form people can use. This means placing professional communicators on staff, and making them integral to the operation, using their input in all aspects of program development and management.
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