Gnaegy Suzanna (author / Winrock International) and Anderson, Jock R. (author / Winrock International)
Format:
Publication
Publication Date:
1991-06-30
Published:
International
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 114 Document Number: D11012
Notes:
World Bank Discussion Paper 126. Washington, D.C. 158 pages., Studies from a workshop. Includes evidence that research and extension had contributed to a decline in agricultural production. "There is a broad consensus about the many factors that have contributed to failures to boost land and labor productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Both technological options and agroecological and socioeconomic circumstances in this vast region are diverse, thus creating a complex matrix of impacts and explanations. The central explanation is that research and development activities, whether public or private, national or international, have produced innovations that farmers find variously unprofitable, too risky, or impossible to implement in a timely and useful fashion. These problems lead, in turn, to often declining agricultural productivity and a deteriorating agricultural resource base, particularly of soil and forest resources. Stepping back further from the farmers themselves to the institutions that are supposed to have assisted, the difficulties are several including the poor (often irrelevant for resource-poor farmers) siting of much past experimental and testing endeavor, inadequate and temporally inconsistent staff and budget support for national research and extension organizations.
Kabore, Joseph (author) and Director, Services Agricoles, Upper Volta
Format:
Conference paper
Publication Date:
1980
Published:
India
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 95 Document Number: C07403
Notes:
INTERPAKS, In: V. Kumble (ed.). Proceedings of the International Symposium on Development and Transfer of Technology for Rainfed Agriculture and the SAT Farmer, August 28 - September 1, 1979. Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, 1980. p. 231-233., Identifies the need for a code or framework for the transfer of technology. Discusses the necessity of such a framework to strengthen the capacity of developing countries for organizing and receiving new techniques and improving access to technology at prices all can afford. Identifies the establishment and development of facilities for technical and in-service training in the countries themselves as prerequisites for the efficient and durable transfer to technology. Notes that new technologies must be assimilated, modified, and adapted to conditions peculiar to each country. Discusses fact that agricultural research carried out in developed countries involves means of production that have nothing in common with those of the small farmer of Upper Volta. Stresses that scientists are needed who can assimilate the people's everyday problems and work out a realistic research program that will raise the technological level of the farmer.
