Agricultural Administration最新文献

On the basis of critical observations, surveys, evaluation and research studies it has been found that the level of adoption on the part of Indian farmers of technical know-how released by research organisations has been far from satisfactory. In this paper the various approaches adopted for the transfer of technology in India after its independence, i.e., 1947, till today are briefly, but critically, analysed. An alternate strategy is suggested without making major changes to the present technology transfer system, which may be useful not only to India but to other developing countries also.

Common property resources form a major agricultural resource base in the villages of Sri Lanka, but they have deteriorated in recent years. This research study was conducted in two districts of Sri Lanka to investigate the major causes of the erosion of the common property resources. The irregular felling of trees for timber, clearing and the burning of forests for rainfed rotational cultivation were evident in the study villages. The over-grazing of the communal pastures is not a serious problem due to the low cattle/buffalo population. The income from the common property resources is significant in the drier districts.

Although farmer participation is an important concept in farming systems programs, farmer participation is typically restricted to the management of on-farm trials and little information exists on alternative approaches. This paper evaluates three approaches to farmer participation differentiated by the extent to which farmers participated in defining criteria for the design of on-farm fertilizer trials. The three methodologies are described, and the resultant experimental designs are compared in terms of their criteria for testing fertilizers under small farm conditions. The results show that increased scope for farmer participation produced significant changes in the design of on-farm trials due to important insights into how farmers themselves would evaluate fertilizers, and raised basic research questions about improvements in the technology. The paper concludes that farmer participation in experimental design for on-farm trials requires fewer resources and less time than diagnostic survey research while qualitatively improving feedback between scientists and farmers.

Attention has been focused recently on improvements in research allocation to maintain productivity gains from research expenditure and undertake programs of greater social relevance. This paper addresses the latter objective in research project selection and proposes a framework for so doing. This framework makes use of a goal hierarchy and its applicability is shown by considering research thrusts at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The set of goals used are those that apply to the Philippine agricultural sector.

Two main conclusions can be drawn. First, it appears both feasible and attractive to consider demand side factors in institute level selection of research programs, as well as in national research funding allocations. This can be facilitated by a systematic listing and ranking of goals in a familiar goal hierarchy. Secondly, one can meaningfully interpret IRRI research work and changes in research direction in the context of these goal hierarchies.

In spite of the remarkable long-term stability, at the national level, of the share of the land in France under owner-operation, at about one half of farmland, there have been regional changes, with tenancy increasing in mostly owner-occupied areas and owner-occupation increasing in mostly rented areas. Intra-family tenancy has developed at the expense of renting from outside landlords. This has come about in part because of the tenancy regulations, set up since 1946, which are very favourable to tenants. The decline of the traditional landlord has led to the quest for a new type of corporate landlord: Groupements Fonciers Agricoles, have been introduced but are still of minor importance.

Rural poverty is much less a problem of total food availability than of who produces the food and who has the income to buy it. A high priority is therefore to enable the tens of millions of resource-poor farm families to increase their production and improve its stability. The normal ‘transfer-of-technology’ (TOT) model for agricultural research has built-in biases which favour resource-rich farmers whose conditions resemble those of research stations. TOT approaches have been modified through on-farm trials and demonstrations but the basic model and approach remain the same. A second emerging model is ‘farmer-first-and-last’ (FFL). This starts and ends with the farm family and the farming system. It begins with holistic and interdisciplinary appraisal of farm families' resources, needs and problems, and continues with on-farm and with-farmer R and D, with scientists, experiment stations and laboratories in a consultancy and referral rôle. FFL fits the needs and opportunities of resource-poor farm families better than TOT, but there are obstacles to its development and introduction. These can be tackled step-by-step, through combinations of methodological innovation, interdisciplinarity, including the social sciences, and provision of suitable resources, rewards and training. FFL approaches promise a greater contribution from agricultural research to the eradication of rural poverty.