RA 00048.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT

factor w h i c h should d e t e r m i n e regional s o r g h u m
research strategies in t h e 1980s, t h e n India, w i t h
t h e l o w e s t per capita calorie c o n s u m p t i o n of
1967, should receive the highest priority, w h e r e a s
North, Central and South A m e r i c a should receive
t h e lowest. Similarly, if poor historical production
trends are considered m o s t important, t h e n t h e
Near East rates first, and N o r t h , Central, and
South A m e r i c a last.
The graphical analysis cannot a c c o m m o d a t e all
10 research resource allocation criteria. H e n c e we
have d e v i s e d a c o m p o s i t e numerical research
resource allocation index (CONRRAI) that uses all
10 criteria. By assigning different w e i g h t s to each
criterion based on subjective a s s e s s m e n t s of t h e
relative importance of equity versus efficiency
c o n c e r n s and adding u p t h e s e w e i g h t e d index
values, we obtain for each region a c o m p o s i t e
index reflecting its relative priority. T w o alternative
w e i g h t i n g s c h e m e s are s h o w n in Figure 4.
M e t h o d A assigns t w i c e as m u c h w e i g h t to
population, current f o o d status, s o r g h u m ' s contribution
to calories, and t h e region's contribution to
SAT s o r g h u m production, c o m p a r e d w i t h t h e
other six criteria. M e t h o d B uses as the only
criterion t h e region's share of SAT s o r g h u m
production. All other criteria are ignored.
If o n e w e r e c o n c e r n e d solely w i t h efficiency
considerations t h e n M e t h o d B m i g h t be utilized to
guide research strategies. It s u g g e s t s an equal
e m p h a s i s on India and t h e North, Central and
South A m e r i c a n region, f o l l o w e d b y W e s t and
t h e n Eastern Africa. W h e n equity concerns and
other efficiency criteria are incorporated ( M e t h o d
A), t h e emphasis should shift f r o m North, Central
and South America and India to Africa, t h e Near
East, and t h e other Asian regions. The U S D A
projections (1980, p. 308) of import and calorie
gaps using 1979 prices and real i n c o m e s s u g g e s t
perhaps even greater e m p h a s i s should be placed
on W e s t and Eastern Africa than M e t h o d A w o u l d
indicate. The W e s t African SAT region is estim
a t e d t o have 7 4 % o f t h e total SSA f o o d import
gap by 1990 and 1 5 % of its u n m e t f o o d needs.
Eastern Africa's comparable figures are 21 and
7 9 % , respectively.
T h e above analysis s u g g e s t s that a m o r e
regionally dispersed research strategy m a y be
appropriate for ICRISAT s o r g h u m research in t h e
1980s. In addition, it s e e m s f r o m accumulating
research experience w i t h s o r g h u m and other
crops that it m a y be difficult to d e v e l o p i m p r o v e d
cultivars at o n e headquarters location w h i c h will
have w i d e adaptability across t h e SAT. Variations
in day-length, duration, t e m p e r a t u r e , pests, and
diseases s e e m to preclude this.
40
M e t h o d A
M e t h o d B
30
20
10
I n d i a E . A f r i c a W . A f r i c a S . A f r i c a O . A s i a N . C . S
A m e r i c a
N e a r
E a s t
Figure 4. Suggested importance of each SAT region in determining the allocation of research
resources using two methods.
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