multipurpose tree species research for small farms: strategies ... - part

or from scientific analysis of such s", ems (Huxley
1984). One system that stands abe'c the rest in
terms of its potential capacity fo;- productivity and
sustainability is agroforestry, wiLch integrates
annual with perennial crops. Hiowever, it is
absolutely necessary to validate agroforestry
systems in various unique local social, economic
and ecological conditions prior to tcchnology
dissemination and local application. This is where
research and extension in agroforestry will play
very important roles.
Why Forestry Research Often Yields
"Solutions in Search of Problems"
Research is a beneficial endeavor which
requires investment of scarce resources such as
scientific talent, funds, facilities and materials,
before it yields usable results. For many small and
less developed countries, research is a luxury that
they would rather leave to their more wealthy
counterparts.
Poor countries which somehow manage to
engage in research justify their expenditures with
the fact that their problems arc sufficiently unique
to make research results from other countries
inapplicable to them. However, they often fail to
derive maximum benefits from their research
investments because of poorly dcsigned studies
which are directed at problems of low priority and
which produce results that have no immediate
app!ication in solving current development
concerns. In short, tc outputs of inappropriate
research usually become "solutions in search of
problems." Several reasons can be cited as causes
of this unfortunate situation,
Scieatists' Preference for Basic Rather Than
Applied Research
Many talented scientists connected with
academic institutions in Third World countries are
products of Western universities with
well-established traditions of concentrating on
fundamental, or basic studies that "push back the
frontiers of knoi",l:e." This tradition has
produced a bias against what they often view with
disdain as pedestrian problcm-so;lving studies. As
a consequence, many of the research outputs of
academic institutions in poor countries have no
immediate applicability to the large number of
local problems that affect rural development. It is
principally for this reason that the private sector
dismisses researchers as a "bunch of theorcticians
who do not have their feet on the ground."
This is not to imply that fundamental
83
research is useless and totally unneeded. This
form of scientific investigation is necessary
because it serves as the basis for technological
innovation and development that less developed
nations desperately need. However, such
fundamental research is more appropriately
regarded as the domain of resource-rich
developed countries.
In the field of forestry, the tendency towards
basic studies can be illustrated by an example
where sophisticated chemical analysis was used
to differentiate between two very similar tree
species which botanists can hardly tell apart
through visual inspection. Such research efforts
could have yielded more practical and useful
results if, for example, they were used to
determine which of the two species responds
more positively to intercropping with food crops
that farmers prefer. Farmers could not care less
about differentiating species which arc naturally
similar anyway, but they would be greatly
interested in knwing which of the two species
yields more tree products, and which one causes
the food intercrops to yield more grain through
symbiotic relationships (Huxley 1984).
Propensity or Plant Scientists to Undertake
Short-Term Rather Than Long-Term Studies
The payoff from studies of short-term crops,
such as annuals, is more immediate than from
research into perennials. Consequently, there
are many more studies on agricultural crops
than on tree crops. The resulting imbalance in
the availability of information on these two
components of agroforcstry systems makes it
difficult to find sufficient data on which to base
a prediction, with reasonable reliability, of the
behavior of intercrops in agroforcstry.
Tendency of Researchers to Focus Within Their
Narrow Disciplines
A.roforestry, by definition, is a
multidiscipsinary endeavor which brings the
forester in contact with the agriculturalist and
the social scientist. Fear of the unknown affects
the capacity of professionals to venture outside
their narrow disciplines, thereby reinforcing the
tendency to remain in their cocoons. Foresters
are often uncomforLablc in delving into
uncharted agricultural domains. When they
undertake growth and yield studies for tree
species that are potentially suitable for
agroforestry, they often lay out the trials in
classic forest block plantation patterns instead
of line planting which farmers often employ. As
a result of this inappropriate model for testing,