RA 00048.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT

1. Climatological and physical conditions.
2. Factor (resource) endowments and prices.
3. Exchange or market systems for inputs and
outputs, and their related per unit costs and
prices.
4. Information availability. 5
The technology available for use by farming
families is in essence determined by all of the
above and is therefore of crucial importance in
differentiating farming systems. In designing improved
technologies, agricultural scientists have
long recognized the importance of climatological
and physical heterogeneity in determining their
research strategies.This indeed is a big enough
challenge in the SAT regions generally characterized
by a harsh climate (with its limited, erratic
and unpredictable rainfall) and poor soils. Nevertheless,
in spite of this, it is not prudent to ignore
the potential role of socioeconomic determinants
(i.e., 2. 3 and 4 above) in designing relevant
improved technologies. Many examples exist
where ignoring the socioeconomic determinants
has led to costly errors in research decisions. 6
Conversely, many economists have often failed to
understand the implications of physical, climatological,
or technological constraints for their economic
policy recommendations.
However, farming systems are not only heter-
5. Traditionally experience which is a function of age is
important. When external information starts to come
to a region, communication facilities, education and
extension services become important.
6. The reductionist commodity approach is a powerful
research tool often used in developing improved
technology. However, it has to be used with great
care since it abstracts from the complexities of the
natural and socioeconomic environment in which
farming families operate. Incorrect specification of
the environment in designing research priorities will
result in the development of irrelevant technology. An
example pertains to a technological package developed
for cotton in northern Nigeria which was
rejected because it involved planting earlier in the
season. Although yields per hectare were higher than
the traditional late planted cotton, farming families
rejected the improved technology since its adoption
would involve reallocation of labor from food crops
used for home consumption which also yielded
higher returns from labor at that time of year (Beeden
et al. 1976).
ogeneous in terms of space, but can also be very
heterogeneous over time. Changes in farming
systems can occur over time as a result of
alterations in the constraints faced by farming
families. In West Africa, during colonial times
much of the expansion in cash crop production
(e.g.. cotton and groundnuts) was closely linked to
the development of a bigger market for those
crops as a result of the construction of the
railways and roads (Hogendom 1976; Lele 1975)7
Farming families responded by devoting surplusland
and labor 8 to producing these crops with the
help of traditional (indigenous) technologies.
Therefore, it is important to distinguish longterm
determinants from those which change
more rapidly. During 1982, many breeders will
already be working on technologies for the 1990s.
This, however, is not so much the case for
agronomists and extension specialists who will
have to grapple with shorter-run issues. Physical
and climatic factors are virtually constant, while
resource availabilities of countries and regions
change relatively slowly. However, the other
socioeconomic determinants of farming systems
such as market systems and information availability,
can change very rapidly. Therefore, provided
that relevant research systems are in place,
available improved technologies for sorghum and
competing crop and livestock enterprises can also
change rapidly. For example, development of the
market and exchange systems on the input and
output side is a crucial component of Green
Revolution technologies with their clearly superior
yields.
Because farming systems change, it is important
to realize that descriptions of farming systems
and the resulting perceived problems of
farming families will not always be reliable guides
for all research decisions. For example, developmental
research decisions (i.e., research that has
an intermediate to long-run pay-off) could be
irrelevant if based on a constraint which conscious
economic policy or the normal course of develop-
7. This is generally considered to provide collaboration
for Myints' Vent for Surplus model.
8. Some people question that there was always surplus
labor. Rather, labor was sometimes reallocated from
food crops to export cash crops to provide cash to pay
taxes (Nicolas 1960; Kafando 1972).
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