World Hunger: Approaches to Engineering Actions Report of a Seminar (1975) / Chapter Skim
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TECHNOLOGY TO INCREASE FOOD SUPPLY
TECHNOLOGY TO INCREASE FOOD SUPPLY
Pages 15-24
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From page 15... ...
Efforts to include the poor in growth may be quickly stifled unless there is a rapid increase in food production. Without commensurate increases in supply, rising demand for food will raise food prices and thereby directly reduce incomes of the poor, and it will mobilize the politically potent urban middle classes to take measures to reduce those inflationary pressures -- measures that will be effective only if they reduce income and employment of the poor.
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From page 16... ...
The"new world" of the 20th century is technological change that increases yield per acre. New technologies of the Green Revolution break the diminishing returns bottleneck by developing new plants that produce much greater yields by using vastly greater quantities of inputs, such as labor and fertilizer.
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From page 17... ...
The close relationship between rural development programs and income distribution means that areas which do not have vigorous science and technology based rural development will remain or become areas of intense and entrenched poverty. Third, because of its size, dominance as an employer, and potential for intensification through technological change, agriculture itself must provide a major portion of future employment growth in low-income countries.
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From page 18... ...
The yield increases from new seed varieties increase labor requirements for harvesting and threshing, and justify more intensive weeding, seed bed preparation, and insect control -- all likely to produce seasonal labor bottlenecks, even in regions of large total labor surplus. New seed varieties increase the returns to water and justify new irrigation systems.
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From page 19... ...
Small entrepreneurs often have substantial business acumen, but little formal education, and this can result in a communications problem between the research establishment and the productive user. Communication is crucial to the success of research in agriculture and industry; most important is a channel that takes problem-definition from the user to the researcher and provides feedback from the initial research efforts.
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From page 20... ...
The solution lies in coordination between central stations and field stations, a complex institution building problem. Small-scale industries based on natural or agricultural raw materials, such as gems, forest products, fibres, vegetables and fruits probably require similar research support.
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From page 21... ...
Public Sector Organization Organization of a science and technology system largely in the public sector raises difficult problems of setting and enforcing priorities. The public sector objectives are likely to be diverse, the political process may inhibit an explicit statement of objectives, and the bureaucratic procedures may make it difficult to allocate resources consistent with unstated objectives.
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From page 22... ...
Much of the criticism of basic research is, in fact, based on examples of poorly defined and irrelevant applied research. In general, research results have been sparse where research is done in highly applied stations with little integration within a larger system and when it is conducted entirely by people with only applied training.
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From page 23... ...
FUTURE NEEDS There are clearly visible potentials for increasing food production that can provide breathing room for a pattern of economic and political development, which in turn can bring birth rates and population growth under control. To realize these potentials there must be a major reallocation of resources toward rural development and the building of a complex institutional structure with an international research system as a key component.
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From page 24... ...
knowledge and experience in building such systems. A flow of American researchers and technicians to field stations in low-income countries can significantly add to the volume of research output as well as assist institutional development and the training of people in developing countries for productive effort.
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