the Symposium on Wheats for More Tropical Environments - cimmyt

340The demand for wheat is going tocontinue to expand as urbanizationcontinues and incomes rise. Some ofthat demand can be filled locallythrough more appropriate wheattechnologies. On a related point. <strong>the</strong>importance of <strong>the</strong> opportunities for localproduction described by wheat importsis not well measured by <strong>the</strong> amount offoreign exchange which can be savedthrough local production. A simpler butstill rough approximation is given bytransportation costs. those of bringingin wheat plus those of sending out <strong>the</strong>compensating export.All of <strong>the</strong>se considerations discussed byByerlee and Harrington provide aportion of <strong>the</strong> background for judging<strong>the</strong> critical question associated with <strong>the</strong>allocation of research resources towheat. Along with o<strong>the</strong>r importantconsiderations. l~d by <strong>the</strong> plantbreeders' sense of <strong>the</strong> opportunities.<strong>the</strong>y can help in deciding in which of<strong>the</strong> many environments scarce researchresources should be focused.Good progress has been made. andmore is in <strong>the</strong> offing as researcherspursue <strong>the</strong> still-emerging opportunitiesfor wheat production in <strong>the</strong> tropics andsubtropics.