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WORKING PAPERS
THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
STRATEGIES
FOR AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
SECOND BELLAGIO CONFERENCE, 1975
PUBLICATION DATE JANUARY 1976
STRATEGIES FOR AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
IN
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Agricultural Education Conference II
The Rockefeller Foundation
January 1976
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 74-25596
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
Preface............................................................ ix
University Education for National Development
Animal Sciences Curricula................James E. Johnston............. 1
"In most of Asia, production methods are primitive a farmer
might have some backyard poultry, a goat, one or two pigs;
improved practices have yet to filter down to these small
producers."
Soil Science Curricula .................Pedro Sanchez................. 8
"The bulk of the thesis research should be conducted under
actual tropical conditions...."
Plant Sciences Curricula................T. Ajibola Taylor............ 18
"We have failed to recognize in our training programs that
our agriculturalists generally don't want to live in rural
areas."
Plant Protection Curricula..............William R. Young............25
The scientific work of the future will be done by interdis-
ciplinary groups; "since nature is so complicated we need
teams."
Agricultural Economics Curricula.........Leonard F. Miller............32
"Periodically a department needs to devote time and energy
to a thorough examination of all aspects of its...programs."
Farm Practice Training
for College Students...................Dale G. Smeltzer............42
"Relatively few (students) will become actual farmers; most
will find jobs in agricultural institutions supply, trans-
portation, government service. Therefore, they don't need
to know everything about the theory and practice of agricul-
ture."
iii
Agricultural Research and Production Training for National Development
Agricultural Research and Food Pro-
duction Requirements in Developing
Nations ...............................Albert H. Moseman.............50
"We can do a program with Rockefeller Foundation backstopping;
how do we get local people to do it equally well? There have
been autonomous operations in Mexico and Colombia for fifteen
years now, and they are less than satisfactory."
Agricultural Experiment
Station Development....................Loyd Johnson..................61
"At present, a farm manager is considered a sub-professional,
in an isolated, dead-end position. No wonder, then, that we
don't get large numbers of qualified young people lining up
for the job!"
Accelerating Production of Selected Food Commodities
in Developing Nations
Corn Production Training................Dale G. Smeltzer..............68
"Why are the training programs not being adopted?"
Livestock Production Training...........C. P. Moore....................72
"There are very few schools of animal husbandry in Latin
America, therefore problems which could be solved with
existing knowledge go uncorrected."
Rice Research Training..................Ben R. Jackson................80
"'Nobody in Thailand is going to breed rice if you don't.'"
Conference Summaries
Production Training..................................... ......... 86
Research Training................................................. 91
University Training............................................... 94
Conclusions...........................................................97
PARTICIPANTS
Dr. Francis C. Byrnes
Head, Communication and Research
International Agricultural Development Service
Dr. Robert F. Chandler, Jr.
Consultant
International Agricultural Development Service
Dr. Clarence C. Gray III
Associate Director, Agricultural Sciences
The Rockefeller Foundation, New York
Dr. James H. Jensen
Consultant, Agricultural Sciences
The Rockefeller Foundation, Bangkok, Thailand
Dr. Ben R. Jackson
Plant Breeder
The Rockefeller Foundation, Bangkok, Thailand
Mr. Loyd Johnson
Agricultural Engineer
International Center of Tropical Agriculture
Dr. James E. Johnston
Associate Director, Agricultural Sciences
The Rockefeller Foundation, New York
Dr. John J. McKelvey, Jr.
Associate Director, Agricultural Sciences
The Rockefeller Foundation, New York
Dr. Leonard F. Miller
Rockefeller Foundation Representative
University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Dr. C. P. Moore
Livestock Training Officer
International Center of Tropical Agriculture
Dr. Albert Moseman
Consultant, Agricultural Sciences
The Rockefeller Foundation, New York
Ms. Liz Muhlfeld
Rapporteur
The Rockefeller Foundation, New York
Dr. Gil Saguiguit
Deputy Director
Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study
and Research in Agriculture
Dr. Pedro Sanchez
Associate Professor, Tropical Soils
North Carolina State University
Dr. Dale G. Smeltzer
Agronomist
The Rockefeller Foundation, Bangkok, Thailand
Dr. T. Ajibola Taylor
Head, Department of Agricultural Biology
University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Dr. Sterling Wortman
Vice President
The Rockefeller Foundation, New York
Dr. William R. Young
Entomologist
The Rockefeller Foundation, Bangkok, Thailand
LIST OF PAPERS
The following papers were presented at the conference and
may be obtained by writing to the authors at the addresses here
listed.
"Rice Research Training"
Ben R. Jackson
The Rockefeller Foundation
G. P. O. Box 2453
Bangkok, Thailand
"Agricultural Experiment Station Development"
Loyd Johnson
Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical
Apartado Aereo 67-13
Cali, Colombia
"Animal Sciences Curricula"
James E. Johnston
The Rockefeller Foundation
1133 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10036
"Agricultural Economics Curricula"
Leonard F. Miller
The Rockefeller Foundation
University of Ibadan
Ibadan, Nigeria
"Livestock Production Training"
C. P. Moore
Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical
Apartado Aereo 67-13
Cali, Colombia
"Agricultural Research and Food Production Requirements
in Developing Nations"
Albert H. Moseman
34 Shadblow Hill
Ridgefield, Connecticut 06977
"Soil Science Curricula"
Pedro Sanchez
Department of Tropical Soils
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, North Carolina 27607
"Farm Practice Training for College Students"
and
"Corn Production Training"
Dale G. Smeltzer
The Rockefeller Foundation
G. P. 0. Box 2453
Bangkok, Thailand
"Plant Sciences Curricula"
T. Ajibola Taylor
Department of Agricultural Biology
University of Ibadan
Ibadan, Nigeria
"Plant Protection Curricula"
William R. Young
The Rockefeller Foundation
G. P. O. Box 2453
Bangkok, Thailand
viii
PREFACE
In March 1974, a conference on the subject Strategies for
Agricultural Education in Developing Countries, was held at The
Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio (Italy) Study and Conference
Center. This was followed by a second conference in May 1975,
which built on and extended the earlier discussions.
The material presented and discussed at the 1975 conference
is presented in this publication as a companion volume to the one
covering the 1974 meeting.
Many developing countries are now giving high priority to
agricultural and rural development seeking ways to force the
pace of progress, hoping to move development at speeds with which
few institutions or individuals have had prior experience. Clear-
ly, the agricultural education institutions, with their heavy con-
centrations of talent, must be in the forefront of each nation's
drive for economic and social advance.
Only a start has been made in distilling out strategies of
formal and informal education appropriate for a nation in a hurry.
The two conferences have involved searches for new ways in which
various types of education programs could contribute to these
strategies for national progress.
Sterling Wortman
Vice President
The Rockefeller Foundation
ANIMAL SCIENCES CURRICULA
James E. Johnston
Animal science education has expanded rapidly in the devel-
oping world during the past 25 years. Nearly all countries now
have at least one university offering independent degrees in ani-
mal production and veterinary medicine and some of the larger ones
have several. Courses and curricula have generally been developed
as nearly direct copies of the western universities, whose staff
members served as advisers during the development period. This
has had the advantage of making it possible for selected graduates
of these institutions to gain admission to western universities
for postgraduate studies and resulted in a relatively rapid build-
up of well trained local faculties, but it has also tended to
overemphasize western concepts of intensive animal husbandry, in
the minds of faculty and students alike. They tend to look upon
the traditional production systems, practiced in rural areas, as
inefficient and difficult or impossible to improve. These tradi-
tional systems have thus been neglected; most efforts have been
devoted to the creation of western style production units. This
tendency is now being challenged in many countries, however, and
efforts are being made to make university animal science educa-
tion more relevant to the real needs of local people.
Educational systems and standards, once accepted, are very
ANIMAL SCIENCES CURRICULA
James E. Johnston
Animal science education has expanded rapidly in the devel-
oping world during the past 25 years. Nearly all countries now
have at least one university offering independent degrees in ani-
mal production and veterinary medicine and some of the larger ones
have several. Courses and curricula have generally been developed
as nearly direct copies of the western universities, whose staff
members served as advisers during the development period. This
has had the advantage of making it possible for selected graduates
of these institutions to gain admission to western universities
for postgraduate studies and resulted in a relatively rapid build-
up of well trained local faculties, but it has also tended to
overemphasize western concepts of intensive animal husbandry, in
the minds of faculty and students alike. They tend to look upon
the traditional production systems, practiced in rural areas, as
inefficient and difficult or impossible to improve. These tradi-
tional systems have thus been neglected; most efforts have been
devoted to the creation of western style production units. This
tendency is now being challenged in many countries, however, and
efforts are being made to make university animal science educa-
tion more relevant to the real needs of local people.
Educational systems and standards, once accepted, are very
difficult to change in any society. Where radical changes to im-
prove educational systems are possible they should be made; in
most cases, though, improvements must come gradually. The key
factor is the creation of a significant body of instructors and
administrators who recognize the need for the development of
courses, curricula, and applied training which meet local needs
rather than some internationally accepted standard. These two
are not necessarily incompatible, but where choices must be made,
local relevance must take priority. With few exceptions, educa-
tional programs should concentrate on producing generalists rath-
er than specialists in one species of animal, or one discipline.
Even at the M.Sc. level overspecialization should be avoided ex-
cept in thesis work; most government and private agencies that
employ such personnel expect versatility.
Development of Skills
The development of skills in handling and management of ani-
mals is a major problem, since nearly all university entrants
come from urban rather than rural environments. Well organized
and administered programs are required if students are to gain
any degree of understanding and skill at animal handling and man-
agement. All available resources, including university flocks
and herds, private production units, and village participation
should be incorporated. It is unrealistic, however, to expect
the university to produce graduates fully prepared to undertake
any and all of the wide range of jobs to which they can be
assigned. Both employing agencies and the universities them-
selves must recognize the need for preservice and in-service
training. This may be either informal or formal, as needs dic-
tate.
Educating the Instructor
Another problem with animal science courses is that of fo-
cussing the student's attention on the animals and management
systems found in his own country, rather than in the western
world, where his instructors have often been trained. This prob-
lem can only be solved if the instructor teaching the course has
the requisite knowledge and experience. He cannot gain this sit-
ting in his office or even working on the university farm; rather,
he must get out into the field and get to know the farmers and
their problems. Small farmers, operating subsistence-level,
mixed farms, present the greatest difficulty, since their problems
and the possible solutions differ so much from western theory as
found in textbooks and journals. Practically, the problem of
educating the instructor can only be solved by getting him in-
volved in research that deals with the solution of national pro-
duction problems, and more specifically in rural development,
where he runs head on into the small farmer and his difficulties.
This is, to me, full justification for the Rockefeller Foundation
emphasis on programs which involve universities in commodity (in
this case, livestock) research and rural development.
Focussing on Local Institutions
I have emphasized the role western universities and their
staff members have played in the creation of the present systems
of animal science education in the developing world. Many of the
universities so established are now beginning to mature. Most
of the senior administrative and teaching staff have received
M.Sc. and/or Ph.D. degrees from western institutions; most are
now offering the M.Sc. degree on their own and some are offering
the Ph.D. Nevertheless, the long period of western dependence
has placed a premium on degrees granted by those institutions.
This in spite of the fact that the developing institution is
sometimes able to provide more appropriate training to young
staff members. There will always be a need for an interchange
of students and an exchange of information, but the time has now
arrived for us to be much more critical in the granting of fel-
lowships to western universities. Both the donor agency and the
university in the developing country should determine the type
of training required and the institution best able to provide it;
the prestige value of a western degree will be difficult to over-
come but it can and must be done. Preference should be given to
institutions in developing countries whenever possible and con-
tinuing assistance should be provided to those ready to assume
regional educational roles.
Discussion Summary
Six participants were asked to prepare papers on university
education in the LDC's, the procedure being that at the confer-
ence itself each author would first review his own formal paper,
then respond to questions from his colleagues. Dr. James Jensen
chaired these sessions.
Animal Science Curricula: An Overview
Dr. James Johnston, an animal scientist and agricultural
project leader at Kasetsart University in Thailand, led off. He
described parts of the animal sciences curricula at Kasetsart as
being relatively new, the emphasis before World War II having
been on veterinary medicine, i.e., animal health, rather than on
production. In spite of entrenched interests, a gradual move-
ment toward production has taken place over the past thirty years
(mainly through the efforts of westerners working with the vari-
ous technical assistance agencies) but although this is a step
in the right direction, it has one major flaw. Animal production
efforts, based on western models, have concentrated on large-
scale, commercial operations, and have not been adapted to local
needs. In most of Asia, production methods are primitive a
farmer might have some backyard poultry, a goat, one or two pigs;
improved practices have yet to filter down to these small pro-
ducers.
A second impediment is the urban background of most students;
the superior city school systems produce graduates who can pass
the entrance exams. "Some of these kids are frightened to death
when they get close to a horse or a cow; they must learn to han-
dle animals under field conditions." To compound this problem,
agriculture students are often in the field by default they had
first applied, but were not accepted, for medicine or law.
The institutions, new as they are, are rigid in certain ways.
A critical problem involves teaching the teachers many of whom
have spent little or no time in rural areas to understand the
production problems of their own country. Thus, RF programs aim-
ed at getting instructors out into the field are highly valuable
and should be continued.
Questions/Comments
Some obstacles to curriculum reform were mentioned: a prolif-
eration of courses, each one representing a particular professor's
vested interest; political trade-offs on the part of the committees.
Johnston opposes committees as being too little interested in
real reform. Instead, he advocates a strong leader "who can say
1) what do our graduates have to know? and 2) what do our entering
students already know? And then design a program that will take
the student from 2 to 1."
The Kasetsart administration, said Johnston, has worked out
scholarship programs geared to national agricultural development.
Research assistantships for younger faculty and senior
students, to engage in research which involves working with farm-
ers in the field.
Research leadership positions to allow outstanding faculty
members, most of whom work two or more jobs, to spend full time in
teaching and research. "These run for five years; they reward peo-
ple who have already demonstrated competence." After five years
a man's research capability has become apparent and he can gener-
ate his own support. "We haven't had any research leaders who
have failed to continue their research."
Graduate assistantships again, focused on field work; to
encourage young agriculturalists to concentrate on their own coun-
try's particular problems.
Johnston also mentioned a graduate volunteer program for ur-
ban students at Thammasat University who go out into rural areas
for a year. "About 70 percent have remained in the field. It's
very small and highly selective, so it's not typical; but it dem-
onstrates what can be done."
Another way to orient universities toward national problems,
said Dr. Sterling Wortman, is to link them with government commod-
ity programs. Some years ago, Rockefeller Foundation grants sup-
ported a tie-in between Kasetsart University and the National Corn
and Sorghum program. At the University of the Philippines, the
Rockefeller Foundation supported with $400,000 a pilot project
that eventually became the government's Upland Crops Program.
SOIL SCIENCE CURRICULA
Pedro Sanchez
The Ph.D.-level training of soil scientists can be tailor-
made at temperate-region universities specifically to increase
food production in the tropics; however, a program to accomplish
this successfully requires additional components before, during,
and after the period of graduate study. I have divided these
components into four parts: candidate selection, course work,
thesis research, and re-entry.
In addition to other standard qualifications, selection
criteria must include evidence of a serious personal commitment
toward increasing food production: too little attention is given
to this kind of commitment at present. (Many candidates are ex-
clusively interested in graduate study as a stepping stone toward
promotion and a comfortable administrative position; they should
be weeded out at this stage.)
Course work includes the same requirements as for any other
Ph.D. in soil science, plus additional courses on tropical soils,
crop or animal production, and social sciences. Formal or infor-
mal training in administration is strongly recommended.
Thesis Research
The bulk of the thesis research should be conducted under
actual tropical conditions unless the student has had sufficient
field experience before undertaking graduate work. Conducting a
thesis in the tropics permits the student to do research on a
relevant problem under the physical and administrative constraints
of working in a developing country. (If the student is from such
a developing country, his thesis topic should be related to the
agricultural development of his home country.) The field re-
search sites should be sufficiently well equipped so that quality
research can be carried on, although not necessarily luxurious.
The major professor and/or senior soil scientists on the field
site can supervise research and maintain frequent contact with
the student. If thesis research is linked with the work of an
ongoing research program (such as those of international centers,
national programs, or tropical soils research contracts) addi-
tional advantages are gained by the graduate student as well as
by the sponsoring institutions. Some of these advantages are:
1) the application of basic sciences to the solution of a rele-
vant problem of tropical soil management; and 2) the student's
ability to devote full time to thesis work.
Programs with the above components have been successfully
carried on for years at a few U.S. universities; the total pro-
gram usually takes an additional year beyond the normal period.
A missing component at present is some provision for ameliorating
the re-entry problems of young professionals who have just com-
pleted their Ph.D. These include intellectual isolation and the
lack of operating funds for conducting research. Involving the
ex-student in network activities will help solve the first prob-
lem; a source of seed money for initiating research is suggested
to solve the second.
Discussion Summary
Dr. Pedro Sanchez, whose formal paper was on the training
of tropical soil scientists in temperate-zone institutions,
limited his discussion to the training of Ph.D. candidates be-
cause, he said, it is only at that level that students should
be sent to the United States for training. M.S. candidates
should be educated at home; graduate schools in most developing
countries are adequate through the M.S. level and "any academic
deficiencies will be balanced by the advantage of being able to
do local research."
Again, the stress was on practical training for solving
national problems: "We want to produce a top-level Ph.D. who
will have an impact on his own country."
What's Needed
Conventional U.S. graduate training is sometimes on such a
sophisticated, theoretical level, he said, that it is useless for
solving the problems of small farmers. Or it depends heavily on
technology: "You don't get courses in which you learn to solve
chemical problems without sophisticated electronic equipment.
Although this is needed for determining mineral structure, a
reasonably close approximation can be made by dividing cation ex-
change capacity into the clay content of the subsoil. This tells
you whether you have 1:1 or 2:1 minerals, and it can be done
without complex instrumentation."
Candidates should be chosen for their personal commitment
to the problems of small farmers. "And how can you gauge this?
Only by including in the selection process some people who have
had some contact with the student." Along these lines, he sug-
gested that applicants be personally interviewed.
As regards course work, he recommended applied courses,
focused on the tropics, in addition to the basic core subjects.
"Students think they know local conditions, but tropically orient-
ed courses really broaden their perspective." Also, there is a
real need for training in administration: "The first thing
you're faced with, on the job, is the task of writing project
proposals; getting research money." He mentioned that there had
been some informal seminar discussions about administration at
North Carolina State University, and had found great student in-
terest in that whole area.
The present concept of thesis research is "medieval an
apprenticeship concept." Its purpose should not be, simply, to
give the student experience in the gathering and presentation of
data. Rather, the results of the student's research should make
a real contribution to the solution of a real problem.
Also, it is important that research be done under actual
field conditions. "A student should produce as good a disser-
tation as if he were on campus while, at the same time, coping
with power failures, changes in the ministry, and so on." Sanchez
cited the Cornell/University of the Philippines program as one
that was successful in integrating research with field conditions.
Where Should Thesis Work Be Done?
Sanchez raised the question, "Should a graduate student do
his thesis in his home country?"
If he goes back to his own university, he pointed out, in-
evitably he will be saddled with teaching and research responsi-
bilities and his thesis work will be done in his spare time. "At
North Carolina State we get an ironclad guarantee that the man
will still be on leave status. Otherwise he goes to a neighbor-
ing country or does the research in Raleigh."
Thesis research should be integrated into a larger program -
to provide continuity ("someone else will pick up where the stu-
dent left off") and to give the student the benefit of insight
from others. A student's research will be oriented to a practi-
cal solution if it's part of an ongoing program; usually it will
also be more original and more comprehensive.
In a cooperative CIMMYT/Cornell program, he said, an inter-
disciplinary team is doing a thesis together.
A concentration in tropical soil science, with thesis re-
search in the field, usually takes a year longer than a conven-
tional campus program that is, four instead of three years.
Sanchez suggests that in most cases the student do his field
work after he has finished his course requirements, "because he,
will then have the necessary technical background," although
this should not be a rigid rule.
In closing, Sanchez touched on the intellectual isolation
that is often a problem for young Ph.D.'s when they return to
their home institution and take up familiar teaching, adminis-
trative, and field-work assignments. He suggests a "seed money
provision" in graduate scholarships which would provide money for
research in the first year after the degree, also "personal pro-
fessional contact" through international conferences or sabbati-
cal leave at other universities.
Questions/Comments
In addition to asking the general question, "Have we trained
too many Ph.D.'s?" Sterling Wortman referred to cases in which
students were sent abroad, after their B.S. degrees, for all
their graduate training, through the doctorate. He suggested
that the M.S.'s "go home, put their training to use, and then re-
qualify for the Ph.D." To which Dr. Jensen replied that it would
be very difficult for a student to get permission to leave his
home country a second time. (Fortunately, the practice of send-
ing students to regional universities for their M.S.'s is becom-
ing more and more common, as these universities improve.)
Wortman also pointed out that the Rockefeller Foundation
"assumes practical field experience" and selects fellowship can-
didates on that basis. In addition, an RF fellow must have a
guaranteed position at his home institution following graduate
work. "He must be part of some international network. We must
have continuing linkages."
As regards funding for the first year of research the
Foundation has sought, instead, to generate local support, said
Wortman.
Thesis Supervision
Dr. Johnston raised the question of the supervision of
thesis work that is carried out thousands of miles from the home
institution. How often can a major professor leave his on-campus
duties to visit a student in the field? Who will pay for his
trip? "The minimum cost of sending a professor from the United
States to Thailand is $3,000." He suggested that staff members
of the international institutes be used as adjunct professors,
and feels that in any case "most people will have to do their
thesis research in the States."
Sanchez answered that professors working in the Cornell/
University of the Philippines program went out to the Philip-
pines once a year, to supervise the work of two or three students,
the cost being borne by the ongoing research project in which
the students were working. And he added, "Only about 20 percent
of my foreign graduate students have any real experience. They
must get it sometime."
The discussion then moved to the whole area of personal
commitment. How can it be assessed? Who should have the most
authority in selecting fellowship candidates on this basis? Does
a Foundation officer's opinion carry too much weight? Dr. Miller
pointed out that although a Foundation officer's decision should
not be too unilateral, it "helps to spread the responsibility";
Dr. Jensen added that in Bangkok the Kasetsart staff "could not,
would not make the final decision; the social structure forbade
it" therefore, the New York officer had to take that responsi-
bility.
Dr. Chandler harked back to the earlier discussion. It was
becoming less and less necessary for major professors to make ex-
tensive trips into the field, he said, because nowadays they were
usually familiar enough with tropical field conditions to super-
vise research from a home base. "So many agricultural university
people have been abroad, as compared with twenty years ago. We've
made some progress."
Dr. Moseman added that "Brazil and the United States have a
relationship in tropical soils research that goes back eight or
ten years. Is it still necessary for professors to go out to
Brazil, or is the time for that over?" And he asked, "How suc-
cessful was the AID program in giving U.S. professors experience
in working overseas?" Sanchez argued that some continuing visits
were necessary. "Okay, you've built the relationship. But now
you need to sustain it."
What about adjunct professors, asked Dr. Gray. Has North
Carolina State University tried to identify professors working
in tropical regions? When Dr. Sanchez said that North Carolina
State University had indeed done this, Gray wondered about the
possibilities for formalizing that process. "We need to provide
mechanisms which allow universities in the United States to link
up with developing countries."
Finally, there was the question of postdoctoral fellowships.
Dr. Saguiguit remarked that Ph.D.'s from Indonesia were spending
some time at IRRI, and Dr. Miller said that at Ibadan Ph.D.'s
were not given fellowships unless they had had an additional
three years of practical experience. "These people know what
they've missed; they're more focusedd" Dr. Jensen discussed
the ratio of training time to career time: "The common retire-
ment age in these countries is 60, sometimes 55. If we train for
too long beyond the Ph.D. level we've compressed a career into
fifteen or twenty years." Dr. Sanchez added that such sabbati-
cal or study leaves are costly ("the later it gets the more expen-
sive it gets") but certainly worth the money: "After five or six
years you really need an overhaul."
PLANT SCIENCES CURRICULA
T. Ajibola Taylor
In the past few decades, universities in developing countries
have undergone a series of dramatic changes. Those countries with
a history of colonialism had universities similar in tradition and
structure to those in the mother countries; in agriculture, these
universities initially produced a core of scientists trained to
provide advisory services only. Although agriculture was recog-
nized as the mainstay of the economy of most developing countries,
little attention was given to the training of agricultural scien-
tists who could bring about increased agricultural productivity,
higher standards of living in short, rapid development and
growth.
Curricula Development
By the early 1950's it was clear that adaptations of the
existing curricula were not enough: the entire structure had to
be revised. In the reviews that followed, broad objectives were
defined for training in agriculture for development. These in-
cluded:
Training in plant, animal, and soil sciences so that the
interaction of these as applied sciences was thoroughly
understood;
Emphasis on scientific method so that students would be
able to undertake basic investigations for crop and
animal improvement; and
An orientation of students toward the dissemination of
their knowledge and techniques to lay farmers.
In other words, curricula development and training were to
become largely production and research oriented with research
sharply focused on improved methods of production.
As regards the particular discipline of plant science, the
basic concept is that it emphasizes the environmental interrela-
tionship of plants as they are managed for productivity. The pro-
gram must include a strong soil science element in particular,
such aspects as soil fertility and soil management.
In planning curricula, the balance between general knowledge
and some degree of specialization should be carefully watched;
the mix will be different in different countries. In many devel-
oping countries, a broad based curriculum is appropriate. In
countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, however, some spe-
cialization is in order because the problems have been clearly
defined and agricultural development has reached a more sophisti-
cated stage.
Until recently, first degrees in plant science could be earn-
ed in three years. In the last few years, however, many faculties
of agriculture have come to realize that this is too short a period
and they are now switching over to a four-year course.
The basic three-year curriculum is as follows:
First year: Consolidates a student's knowledge of basic sci-
ences and orients it toward agriculture.
Second year: Concentrates on crop production and soil manage-
ment, and includes substantial practical training.
Third year: Introduces various other aspects of plant sciences
in a moderate specialization program.
The curricula cornerstones must be soil science, with plant
breeding and plant protection, the fundamentals of crop management
and improvement. The limitations of this course are the short
duration of training and the inadequacy of practical content. The
University of Ibadan has just proposed the adoption of a four-year
agricultural program with the following curriculum:
First year: Soil science, agricultural biology, general agri-
culture and general ecology.
Second year: A year of residential practical training in a
rural area, with emphasis on the individual development and manage-
ment of small units of farmland.
Third year: Soil science, genetics, crop protection, agricul-
tural mechanization, statistics, field experimentation, etc.
Fourth year: Crop husbandry and production, with reference to
horticultural crops, cereals and legumes, root, fiber, and forage
crops, plant breeding, weed science, crop improvement, and various
aspects of soil management.
In developing countries, the challenge of the future will be
to solve the problem of food. Only broadly based plant science
programs, with strong emphases on integration and practical train-
ing, can provide a basis for meeting that challenge.
Discussion Summary
Taylor discussed the fact that under the colonial system a
cadre of trained people were produced but for advisory purposes
only. The impact of these agriculturalists on local farming prac-
tices was very limited indeed. With independence, however, the
objectives of agricultural training were rethought. Plant sciences
emerged as the concept of the environmental interrelationship of
plants as they are managed for productivity. Scientists were to
look at plants in terms of the soil in which they grow, their gene-
tic basis, insect pests, and so on. We are talking, then, about
the training of a subject-matter specialist.
There is the constant danger of over-specialization. Curricu-
lum should be broadly based. Yet it is becoming increasingly dif-
ficult to do a broad enough program within three years. More and
more universities are switching to a four-year course.
"We must be on guard against an unconscious neglect of pro-
duction practices a situation in which the student becomes know-
ledgeable but remains unsure of his ability to apply that know-
ledge."
Questions/Comments
Sterling Wortman remarked on the "role of maximum yield
trials in causing people to rethink their practices" the con-
cept of 1) yield per hectare per day and 2) performance of plants
as members of competitive populations in the field. "It is often
a surprise," said Wortman, "to see workers cutting out, with a
machete, the strongest individual plants." But if these plants
are allowed to grow at the expense of several others, yield per
hectare goes down.
"Scientists are also interested in maximum yield per hectare
per year, and then, as in the case of Richard Bradfield, in maxi-
mum income per hectare per year."
Dr. Johnston asked how faculty members could be encouraged
to become knowledgeable about national problems. "Through joint
activities," replied Taylor. "There must be an active effort on
the part of university leadership to develop a rapport with na-
tional and international programs. After all, this has worked in
the past in the area of individual relationships among disciplines.
"The government," Taylor continued, "sees agricultural re-
search in universities as upgrading knowledge simply. But we
see it as more applied. We must have an impact in the rural areas."
"Farm Year" Program
Taylor then went on to discuss Ibadan's projected "farm year"
for second-year students. "We have failed to recognize in our
training programs," he said, "that our agriculturalists generally
don't want to live in rural areas. We must change this." The
theory is that students are reluctant to go into the rural regions
because they are not trained to be familiar with the problems they
will encounter there, hence feel humiliated, only marginally use-
ful. This can be corrected with adequate field experience. Taylor
described a typical day projected for a second-year student living
out on the rural agricultural development and training center of
the university. "From 7 to 10 a.m., field work, on individual
farms. Then formal teaching say, from 11 to 1. There would be
some free time in the afternoon, then more formal teaching or
practical work but specifically related to what the student
is doing in the field from h to 6."
Taylor also pointed out that "the farm year encompasses an
entire growing period and experience with work on livestock."
A second way in which to work toward a change-over from the
purely academic to a balance that includes applied knowledge,
said Dr. Taylor, is to develop cooperative programs with the in-
ternational institute also located in Ibadan (IITA The Inter-
national Institute of Tropical Agriculture). A committee has
been established to look into possible areas of collaboration -
research, graduate training, and so on. "Scientists in the IITA
program want to concentrate on research. For that reason, they
don't want to be involved directly in teaching. But they are
willing to do limited teaching and some graduate seminars...."
The University Role
Dr. McKelvey asked about the National Universities Commission:
"Has it been helpful in bringing about greater government contact?"
"The old commission," Taylor answered, "was not greatly in-
terested in university development in relation to national develop-
ment. But a new commission has just been named, to look into
universities nationwide, and advise the government on university
development and financing. There are widely differing opinions
on the commission about the ratio between the university's educa-
tional role and its development function."
"What about communication in your curriculum?" asked Dr.
Gray. "We have an extension-education course," said Taylor, "and
also we hope to train students in communication during the farm
year.
"Particularly they must learn how to communicate with farm-
ers. As you know, English is the language in which all courses
are taught. After graduation, the preponderance of our students
will go to the rural areas there will be only about 10 percent
who will go into industry and another 10 percent or less who will
go into research. Ideally our graduates should speak one other
language besides the mother tongue."
PLANT PROTECTION CURRICULA
William R. Young
A review of the university curricula being offered in ento-
mology and plant pathology at North Carolina State University,
Kasetsart University, and the Indian Agricultural Research Insti-
tute shows that course offerings at all three institutions pro-
vide an adequate exposure to basic knowledge in these disciplines.
Because scientific knowledge has increased at such a fantastic
rate in the twentieth century, however, this basic knowledge has
become increasingly specialized and compartmentalized; conse-
quently, there is a real need for generalists scientists who
can synthesize essential knowledge from the various disciplines
and apply these basics in a coordinated way.
Improvements
I would argue that a drastic revision of present curricula
would be the wrong way to go about solving this problem. We can-
not neglect the basics. Neither can we afford to interfere with
the international standards that have been set and which enable
scientists from all over the world to understand each other and
work together. I would suggest, instead, that we look for ways
to include intensive training programs, along with traditional
classroom work, at all levels of graduate and undergraduate edu-
cation.
At present, practical training in some of the younger, devel-
oping universities is almost nonexistent: students get their ex-
perience on the job, after they leave school. (For some reason,
many of these universities have not understood the value of work-
ing assistantships at the graduate level.) Students must be in-
corporated into the university's research program and laboratory
and local field experience should be mandatory. This is particu-
larly true in work involving insects and pathogens because these
differ in different locations a stem borer in Thailand is not
the same as a stem borer in Iowa.
The RF can be of real assistance here particularly in the
building of capable teaching staff. Anyone who has worked with
students from the developing world knows that in general they are
unable to apply the scientific formulae they have been taught -
in fact-laden courses to memorize.
Finally, there should be better overview courses for non-
entomologists; at present they oversimplify the extreme complexi-
ty of plant protection problems. Workers in other disciplines
need a better understanding of pest-plant relationships and the
cost of control measures. They also need more experience in the
use of pesticides and their possible hazards.
Suggestions
It should be mentioned that birds and rodents, which often
cause severe production and storage losses, have not been ade-
quately dealt with. Their number and variety have not been
sufficient for the development of full-fledged university curri-
cula therefore, at present, avian and rodent classification,
biology, physiology, and control are fragmented parts of zoology
and wildlife management programs. Frequently rodent and bird con-
trol programs fall by default to the entomologist, yet they are
not part of his field and he is usually ill-equipped to handle
them. We might explore the possible role of the Foundation or
the international institutes in promoting the training of a
larger corps of people to develop more effective research pro-
grams on this problem.
Along with an increasing awareness of the disadvantages of
broad-spectrum organic insecticides such as DDT, there has evolved
over the past decade a more comprehensive, ecological approach to
pest control, called "pest management." It represents an attempt
to minimize pest-damage and control costs, and also environmental
damage, by endeavoring to keep harmful pest populations at a low,
economically "manageable" level. This concept implies a thorough
understanding of the economics and technologies of crop produc-
tion and pest control, as well as the ecology of pest populations.
There is undoubtedly a need to modify our present plant-
protection curricula in light of this concept. Changes in em-
phasis should include additional attention to ecology, to the
complicated relationships among various disciplines, and to the
new techniques of data analysis and systems analysis.
International Networks
The Rockefeller Foundation's operating programs put an inter-
disciplinary team to work, to solve sharply focused, high priority
national production problems. These team efforts, apart from their
informal educational value, may be the most effective vehicle for
carrying out successful research and production efforts.
Is this pattern of operation more broadly applicable? I think
that unquestionably it is, and that there are real possibilities
for this kind of effort in the field of plant protection.
While host-plant resistance is the best solution to many plant
protection problems, there are pest and disease problems of inter-
national significance that require greater effort than they now re-
ceive. The RF might consider an international network, in collabo-
ration with national programs and international institutes, to at-
tack such broad-gauge problems as stem rusts of wheat; downy mil-
dews of maize, sorghum, and millets; stem boring Lepidoptera of
cereals; and shoot flies and midges of sorghum and millets.
There is also a need for international collaboration, relat-
ing the projects we are already supporting (the development of bio-
degradable pesticides4 pheromones, insect hormones4 and the biochem-
ical nature of host plant resistance to insects and diseases), more
closely with the application of these methods in tropical agricul-
ture. The coordination of an effort of this type with one of the
cropping-systems projects now being developed at IRRI, IITA, or
ICRISAT would seem to me to be an ideal approach.
Discussion Summary
Dr. Young, who pointed out that his experience was in action
programs rather than universities, argued for strengthening ex-
isting curricula rather than making radical changes. "We need
to have an educational system that allows the most talented to
push back the frontiers of knowledge."
While curricula at certain newer universities needs to be
streamlined (Kasetsart has 37 courses in agricultural entomology
as compared with 19 at North Carolina State) he thought that the
attempts of these universities to cover the whole field repre-
sented "an intermediate step in their development," that "as more
plant protection departments come into being within a country or
region, specific departments can begin to build special compe-
tence in particular aspects of plant protection."
Within the present framework, he made some specific sugges-
tions for improvement:
1. Often the youngest teachers do the introductory courses;
"I am convinced that the best teachers should be handling
these."
2. The scientific work of the future will be done by inter-
disciplinary groups; "since nature is so complicated we
need teams." More thought should be given to specially
designed courses for students who are not majoring in
entomology but in some related discipline.
3. More effective seminars should be run; at present their
intellectual level is too low.
4. While undergraduate courses usually succeed in providing
basic information, there is little or no way for students
to get practical experience. "Students lack the ability
to diagnose under field conditions. Many can't tell a
disease from an insect."
Along the lines of possible additions to present curricula,
Young mentioned the whole field of environmentally oriented pest
control, which he said "now approaches the status of a religion"
and must be integrated with pest control in some sensible way.
He mentioned a 1972 meeting held in St. Louis by the U.S. Office
of Education, at which entomologists, plant pathologists, nema-
tologists, and weed scientists drew up "a most reasonable curric-
ulum for an integrated block of courses at the B.S. level.
"The pest management approach, coupled with work at the in-
ternational centers on cropping systems, seems to be pulling every-
thing together environmental factors, pest populations.....We're
beginning to be able to make predictions."
Questions/Comments
In the discussion that followed, Dr. Gray pointed out that
if we could cut down on losses due to rodents we would increase
available food supplies enormously. "Why are there such high
losses? Are they a reflection of the adequacy of plant pro-
tection training? Whose responsibility is it to reduce food,
feed and fiber losses due to insects and diseases the agrono-
mist's? the plant protectionist's? This is not necessarily a
curriculum defect what kind of problem is it?"
To which Dr. Byrnes replied that the problem was partly due
to the inability of extension workers to diagnose correctly and
Dr. Wortman said that the basic reason for such high rodent
losses is low yield: "The loss from a 6-ton level might be 2
tons, which is too high to ignore; but the loss from 1.5 tons
yield per hectare would be only about 600 pounds, which is not
worth worrying about in terms of profits." Wortman added, "No
one group or supplier is totally responsible for the efforts
within the particular specialty. In one program the potash
people supported the plant breeders because the more nitrogen
fertilizer they used the more demand there would be for potash."
But Dr. Gray insisted on returning to his original point:
"To what degree is the situation in plant protection (i.e., high
insect and rodent losses) the result of the training of plant
protectionists?" And Dr. Johnston answered, "The B.S. graduate
is not capable of applying knowledge to practical situations."
AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS CURRICULA
Leonard F. Miller
The following comments summarize under four points what are,
in my view, the most important considerations in developing a cur-
riculum and training program in agricultural economics. They are
hardly original, and they represent only one individual's experi-
ence, educational philosophy, and personal biases.
Focus on Practicality
At the undergraduate level it is of key importance that a
department's curriculum and course offerings for both its own
majors and for other agricultural students focus on the generally
most useful economic principles, concepts, and tools, and on their
application to the solution of practical problems relating to the
country's agricultural development. Many of today's so-called
"facts" have a high rate of obsolescence; our emphasis must be on
those principles and tools of most lasting value to our students.
Major attention to teaching the discipline should come at the
postgraduate level.
An emphasis on problem-solving and aids to decision-making
is especially important in a department's short courses and sem-
inars designed for the in-service training of public and private
groups.
Breadth of Training
Exposure to our curriculum and training should provide stu-
dents with the best possible background for a future which is dy-
namic and uncertain. Students must have the necessary foundation
and, we hope, motivation to continue learning after graduation,
and to be able to adjust to changing employment demands and oppor-
tunities. This means that our undergraduate program should not
be too specialized.
In agricultural economics we generally provide a reasonable
grounding in the biological, physical, and other social sciences,
but we should also be providing sound training in the skills of
communication and mathematics, and an opportunity to develop ap-
preciation for the arts and humanities. Obviously, to provide
this breadth of training we must sacrifice something in the way
of the less essential, highly applied courses in agriculture and
agricultural economics.
High Quality Instruction
A well conceived curriculum is necessary, but by itself is
not sufficient to insure that the students entrusted to us are
receiving a good education. This depends on the ability, train-
ing, experience, and devotion of those teaching the courses. Ex-
cellence in a department's teaching program requires both a wisely
conceived curriculum and high quality instruction. A department
must do all it can to provide the necessary facilities and incen-
tives for teaching staff who excel in the classroom and in the
advising and counseling of students to encourage individuals
with the best qualifications to make the necessary commitment to
teaching.
Department Review
Occasionally, a department should review its curriculum,
course content, teaching methods, and advisory system. Minor
changes and adjustments are, of course, made from time to time,
but periodically a department needs to devote time and energy to
a thorough examination of all aspects of its in-service, under-
graduate and graduate teaching and training programs in light of
changing conditions within the department and the university, and
feedback from past graduates, employers and the public.
Discussion Summary
Dr. Miller emphasized that there could be no rigid rules for
curricula; courses obviously should depend on specific conditions
within a university they should be "time and place specific."
He felt strongly that teachers in agricultural economics de-
partments have a "service responsibility" to agricultural students
majoring in other areas: "What are the working tools that can
help them to analyze practical problems?" He suggested these
courses for non-majors: economic principles, farm management,
statistics, agricultural marketing, cooperatives and agri-busi-
ness management, agricultural development policies and institu-
tions. "Agricultural economics departments may also be called
upon," he said, "as ours has been at the University of Ibadan,
to offer courses for the faculty in rural sociology and extension
education areas considered especially necessary for equipping
graduates to work effectively in rural Nigeria."
Of course, the department's primary responsibility is to
students majoring in the field. "What do we expect of our B.Sc.
graduates?" Dr. Miller opted for general competence: "We should
not primarily be training B.Sc. level students to go on for grad-
uate work most of them will not." He thought that to increase
the emphasis on practicality, the number of highly applied courses
might be reduced to make room for more general -skills courses,
such as those in communications. He also advocated electives, and
a good advisory system, to help identify and prepare those
students who should go on for advanced study.
Good teaching should be recognized. "We say good teaching
is essential but we don't reward it as we do good research. Good
teachers are often passed over for promotions."
Questions/Comments
Dr. Wortman asked about the current content of agriculture
in agricultural economics curricula. Miller acknowledged that
this was a problem in some cases not enough attention has been
given to general agriculture or to the biological sciences. He
did not think this applied to Ibadan, however. Dr. Jensen added
that "this is a worry for every discipline in the field the
tension between specialization and broad general knowledge."
Miller then touched upon the British vs. American influence
at Ibadan. Under colonialism, the university had been organized
around the British system: "Not until 1971 did Ibadan adopt the
American course system and in many ways, even then, did not
fully appreciate its implications."
Undergraduate Thesis
There followed a discussion of the undergraduate thesis re-
quirement a holdover from the British tradition which Loyd
Johnson said was "often more of a disaster than a help." Miller
replied that in Nigeria it was an important final-year project:
"Students do the field work, and then analyze and write up the
data. It takes a lot of supervision but it's a tremendous learn-
ing experience if done properly.
"At Ibadan," he said, "everyone who gets a degree does a the-
sis. But there is no recognition by the administration that facul-
ty members must spend time advising students; therefore some the-
ses are inadequately supervised." He added that if the students
are organized carefully they can be of great assistance to re-
search programs "they can make up for a lack of resources to
some degree." To which Dr. Saguiguit remarked that a thesis
should be used as a training device, "not a research result."
And Dr. Moore said that in Latin America the thesis is a "disas-
ter" because the student is left completely on his own.
"The British did instill a high standard of scholarship, of
academic excellence," said Miller. "But we must now learn to put
this knowledge to use to serve society."
On-Farm Training
In order to provide much more practical training, Miller
said, Ibadan has recently acquired a large farm, on which stu-
dents are to spend a full year. Each student will have his own
plot, on which he will plant several crops and perform daily tasks
in livestock production. Some second-year courses will be given
at the farm.
Dr. Wortman was interested in the possibility of using the
new university farm as a "production center" a new kind of insti-
tution which people at the Rockefeller Foundation "would like to
see tried on an experimental basis." These centers, he said,
would be devoted to "applied experimentation" students would
do the actual farm work; would "learn about the individual factors
in production." Core staff would be an agricultural engineer, an
animal husbandman, and crops and soils scientists. "The exten-
sion agent who is simply a purveyor of information is out in the
LDCs," said Wortman. "The agent must be able to out-farm the
farmers." He suggested changing the term "extension agent" to
experimentalistt" to indicate a person who can carry out, on
the farmer's field, the simple experiments that will tell him
what to grow and how to grow it. "You need college graduates for
this. We've been sending boys to do a man's job."
Dr. Johnston mentioned Thailand's Corn and Sorghum Program
as being a device to act as a "cohesive agent" between the Minis-
try of Agriculture and Kasetsart University. "You get 150 people
together discussing corn, and it's impossible to tell who's from
the ministry and who's from the university."
Such programs, he said, should be institutionalized, "that
is, given a legal framework within which to operate, and which
will provide continuing support after the RF pulls out." Dr.
Wortman replied that such a program had been a totally new con-
cept in Thailand. "The understanding was that if it worked it
would be continued." He said that the program's lack of legal
status was a "disadvantage, but we couldn't have gotten it then.
We should have looked at various objectives for Kasetsart," he
went on. "We plunged. We should have put an RF staff member in-
to the Ministry of Agriculture."
"If you think there are problems now," said Dr. Chandler,
"you should have seen the place in 1955."
Curricula Worries
The discussion veered back to curricula. What improvements,
what changes could be made? Miller found it "worrisome" that stu-
dents had time for so few electives and that these few were usu-
ally further agriculture courses. "An elective program usually is
not very good unless you have a good advisory system," he said,
"which Ibadan doesn't have." He would like to see more attention
given to communications skills. "The level of writing is disap-
pointing. Students have had fourteen years of pre-college educa-
tion, but they clearly need additional training in composition
and report writing."
He brought up the subject of postgraduate training. Ibadan,
he said, has a strong program at the M.Sc. level Ibadan Ph.D.s
take one year of advanced course work in the United States. "We
can give a first-class M.Sc., but we think Ph.D.s still need the
year abroad."
Until 1970-71 there were no required courses beyond the B.Sc.
degree. Advanced degrees were awarded upon the presentation of
an acceptable thesis. "The agricultural economists pioneered in
demanding course work now the entire faculty of agriculture re-
quires it."
He strongly advocated curriculum reviews by the department
and a discussion of what is actually being taught the relative
emphasis on the subject matter in each course. "These discussions
should be carefully followed up to insure that courses do not
simply repeat each other, but build into a logical sequence of
principles and tools."
The Development Bomb
Dr. Gray raised a larger subject. "I'd like to ask the
question, how much time do we have? And under what political
system? Is it wise to include in the curricula our ideas of an
open society, our objectives concerning development? Agricul-
tural economics, after all, is carried out within the organiza-
tion of a particular society."
"Frankly," said Dr. Wortman, "I think the agricultural system
we've been following is self-defeating. We've been concentrating
on an elite but 'trickle down' doesn't work. As regards China:
they have put every resource into farm-level development to the
extent of putting all the research scientists into the field.
And they are carrying the people with them. My question is: Can
we come up with a system fast enough to keep this system from
overwhelming us? Hank Gonzalez, the governor of Mexico State,
once said to me, 'Mexico is sitting on a time bomb as at the
turn of the century, when the granaries were full and the bellies
of the people were empty and there was revolution.' If people
see no hope for change and if they know there's no hope because
of mass communications this will bring about the downfall of
the system."
Dr. Jensen: "I wish I could feel that the universities
could deal with this."
FARM PRACTICE TRAINING FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS
Dale G. Smeltzer
Since well over half the people in developing countries farm,
national development means agricultural development. Increased
production requires that present practices change; change is
brought about when decision-makers are made aware of their op-
tions (through research) and are then able to implement them
(through production programs).
The implementation process requires a large number of com-
petent and highly motivated people to teach farmers to apply
new practices on their own fields, and to identify the various
factors limiting production. Agricultural universities in the
LDCs are responsible for training these people. A major problem,
however, is that most of the agricultural students come from ur-
ban backgrounds. They lack a basic understanding of farmers,
familiarity with farm operations, and proficiency in farm skills.
Assumptions
Let us consider some assumptions about these agricultural
graduates.
Relatively few will become actual farmers; most will find
jobs in agricultural institutions supply, transportation, govern-
ment service. Therefore, they don't need to know everything about
the theory and practice of agriculture, in all disciplines and
about all commodities. A student's future role should be anti-
cipated; he should have an understanding of general concepts plus
skills in a few specialized areas.
Universities need not be the sole source of all education or
training; students should be equipped for continued learning
after graduation. Further, not every student needs to be taught
the same things; programs must be flexible enough to meet the
needs of students with diverse interests. Finally, agricultural
graduates will not be working alone to solve the problems of agri-
culture. Many students majoring in related subjects will want
to take some agricultural courses and these should be made avail-
able to them.
Practical Knowledge
With these assumptions in mind, let us examine some ways in
which students can acquire practical knowledge. There are several
approaches, all of which fall into the category of learning by
doing.
1. Laboratory courses, in which the student is taught the
scientific method.
2. Applied courses, such as livestock production, crop
production, or insect control.
3. Field survey courses, in which visits are made to
several units of the agricultural industry for ex-
ample, a marketing cooperative, a food processing
plant, an agricultural warehouse. Instruction in
these courses is given by the people on the job;
preparation and follow-up is handled by the teacher.
All these programs, unfortunately, are expensive. To be
effective, a low teacher-student ratio is necessary; in many cases
a large investment in equipment is also required.
Work-Learn at Davis
For a number of years, the University of California at Davis
offered an agricultural practices course. A half day each week
was devoted to field activities and instruction was given by a
skilled practitioner. However, this was a non-credit course, with
low status in the minds of both teachers and students. The uni-
versity also maintained a placement service, through which students
could find employment on a ranch or farm during summer vacations.
A new work-learn program has recently evolved at Davis, in
which students are helped to find either full- or part-time employ-
ment in an agricultural job, usually for a period of a term, or an
academic year. The goal is to match the job with the student's
interests and capabilities.
It is unfortunate that such work-learn programs are not
easily worked into the curricula of universities in the developing
world: usually the program is too rigid to allow for orderly
progression after the student has withdrawn for some period of
time. But this kind of innovation should be encouraged possibly
a model program of this kind could be supported by the Rockefeller
Foundation Where universities in the LDCs have research respon-
sibilities, student aides should be recruited: this practice
could have a long-range impact on national agricultural development.
At Kasetsart
At Kasetsart, students are required to have 300 hours of
agricultural work experience. Most students meet this require-
ment by participating in programs given at student training farms
operated by the university. In addition, students may volunteer
to spend eight or ten weeks of their summer vacation at Farm
Suwan, a university research and training station which also
serves as the National Corn and Sorghum Research Center.
Students in the Department of Agricultural Economics at
Kasetsart have used a slightly different method. They have served
as interviewers in farm survey research under leadership of faculty
members, assisting also in the tabulation and analysis of data.
At Cal Poly
Agricultural production projects conducted by students rep-
resent another type of training opportunity. California Poly-
technic State University (Cal Poly) has a student projects pro-
gram in which a student might grow a field of grain or a vege-
table crop for example, or carry out some other project in agri-
cultural production under the guidance of a faculty adviser.
Fields and equipment are made available at commercial rates and
credit is provided where necessary. Expendable supplies are the
responsibility of the student, who is allowed to keep any profit
he makes. Losses are absorbed by the university.
This program is expensive in terms of both equipment and
staff time but is a highly valuable learning experience.
Training Trainers
In the developing world, where the need for practical ex-
perience is great, there is a huge demand for qualified trainers
to design and implement work-learn programs. I would submit that
the international institutes, in association with the regional
programs, could train these trainers. The Rockefeller Founda-
tion's Education for Development program might well support such
a project.
Discussion Summary
Dr. Smeltzer pointed out that agricultural development in-
volves choices among options: "the farmer must understand what
his options are, evaluate them, and be able to put them to prac-
tical use."
To be useful, he said, education must include specialized
knowledge as a point of departure from which to bring about
change plus various skills, with which to implement that know-
ledge.
He then went on to discuss "constraints" on practical labora-
tory teaching; first, its high cost, and second, the attitude
shared by both faculty and students that this method is not "in-
tellectual" enough. This attitude is found everywhere, he pointed
out, not just in the developing world.
In the LDCs, he said, a work-learn program is difficult to
implement because of the rigidity of the curricula and the fact
that in general employers are unwilling to train students. Also
there is the danger that so-called practical training might de-
generate into mere busy work: "cheap labor in Asia is an obsta-
cle to research."
Questions/Comments
Dr. Wortman asked about the Cal Poly system which emphasizes
practical training, along with course work, for the entire four-
year college period. "How do California Polytechnic graduates
make out, in comparison with Davis graduates?" Smeltzer: "Cal
Poly students are first choice for many types of jobs; Davis stu-
dents are more readily admitted to graduate schools."
Drs. Young and Byrnes both mentioned the demand in the devel-
oping world for scientists with practical training. In Uttar Pra-
desh, India, said Young, graduates from a program similar to Cal
Poly's were "snapped up"; Byrnes described a three-year program of
practical training in Honduras: "CIAT seeks out these graduates
as instructors for production training programs." He said, though,
that sometimes they must spend a year at a graduate school in the
United States.
Dr. McKelvey: "I believe it is basically unsound to build
institutions based on practical work alone."
There was some discussion of ways to combine the Davis (aca-
demic) and Cal Poly (practical) objectives. Dr. Johnston reminded
the group that "practical training is very difficult to handle
with large numbers of students." Dr. Smeltzer suggested "two
flow schemes," one directed toward graduate study and the other
toward production. "In Ethiopia," said Dr. Jackson, "we had
students working a certain number of hours each week; they were
given a choice as to where they wanted to work. The budding
scientists chose research and the others stayed out in the field."
Byrnes: "But these scientists who go on to graduate school
become the professors who don't have production experience."
"It should not be a matter of splitting practical from aca-
demic work," said Dr. Saguiguit. "We need instructors who can
describe principles as they are applied. Students should see the
practice as they hear about the theory."
In a shift of subjects, Dr. Johnston again cautioned against
training "too greatly geared to western, mechanized methods"; and
Dr. Miller, in agreement, mentioned that one of his concerns
about the University of Ibadan's new farm is that it is so large
it will have to be mechanized. "The implication is that we will
and should solve Nigeria's agricultural problems through mechani-
zation. That's a totally wrong impression."
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND FOOD PRODUCTION REQUIREMENTS
IN DEVELOPING NATIONS
Albert H. Moseman
We have had a generation of experience with cooperative
programs in the agricultural sciences, with a decade or more of
staff involvement, followed by another decade or more of self-
directed effort in countries such as Mexico and Colombia. Mat-
ters of growing concern, as we assess past experiences, are:
1. how to make a program work better;
2. how to insure its persistence and effectiveness when
external support is withdrawn.
Among the major ingredients in an effective agricultural
research and development program are: trained people; an opera-
tional project; a solid organizational base; and a national com-
mitment.
The components of a program's form are readily identified.
Less tangible are the elements that comprise its conceptual and
intellectual thrust.
The Proper Mix
Staff development and training have received much attention
from the standpoint of academic exposure and the proper mix of
formal and in-service experiences. More consideration should be
given to determining the right combinations of people for a given
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND FOOD PRODUCTION REQUIREMENTS
IN DEVELOPING NATIONS
Albert H. Moseman
We have had a generation of experience with cooperative
programs in the agricultural sciences, with a decade or more of
staff involvement, followed by another decade or more of self-
directed effort in countries such as Mexico and Colombia. Mat-
ters of growing concern, as we assess past experiences, are:
1. how to make a program work better;
2. how to insure its persistence and effectiveness when
external support is withdrawn.
Among the major ingredients in an effective agricultural
research and development program are: trained people; an opera-
tional project; a solid organizational base; and a national com-
mitment.
The components of a program's form are readily identified.
Less tangible are the elements that comprise its conceptual and
intellectual thrust.
The Proper Mix
Staff development and training have received much attention
from the standpoint of academic exposure and the proper mix of
formal and in-service experiences. More consideration should be
given to determining the right combinations of people for a given
national project; i.e., the numbers of people in particular dis-
ciplines, and the correct balance of technical support staff and
basic degree and advanced degree persons. The importance of
selecting candidates for advanced degree training with an eye to
their potential and commitment, rather than their personal or
political influence, becomes increasingly evident as more and
more trained nationals are left with the responsibility of manag-
ing ongoing projects.
The multidisciplinary, problem-oriented project is generally
accepted as the most effective operating base. Continuing atten-
tion must be paid, however, to the balance between problem-solving
and basic research support. The "adaptive research" focus is
suited to most developing nations, but there is a need to define
it properly as "the planned and orderly modification of a mate-
rial or practice to suit local conditions, conducted by a team of
persons sufficiently trained in the relevant disciplines to in-
sure proper identification of the specific restraints and in the
procedure to correct them."
Helping Project Leaders
The leaders of national research teams, whether foreign or
national, usually lack high-level experience. Special workshops
should be conducted for the review of common problems found in all
multi-people, multidisciplinary, and multi-institutional efforts.
A national institutional base for agricultural research and
development is generally lacking in developing nations a fact
that is not usually appreciated by technical assistance personnel
from the United States, who have come up through the stable oper-
ational base of the land-grant universities or the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (which are more than a hundred years old) or the
Rockefeller Foundation and USAID programs, both of which have
been operating for more than a quarter of a century. Political
leaders of new nations lack an awareness of the role of science
and technology; in the past, technology was supplied by foreigners
from the governing nations.
Cooperative Projects and Government Bureaucracies
Stronger institutional structures should be built to serve
agriculture in developing nations; so far there has been rather
consistent action to preclude their formation. This results
from the common tendency among donor agencies to set up their
projects outside of, or only loosely allied to, the national
ministries of agriculture or other governmental agencies, in
order to expedite the project to free it from the usual bureau-
cracy. However, this carries over to a continuing lack of insti-
tutional linkage and domestic support when the external assis-
tance is withdrawn. Furthermore, the local personnel who have
participated in the highly autonomous cooperative project, and
who are left with the task of incorporating the activity into
their national organization, are confronted with problems they
never encountered previously. This was the situation in Mexico
and Colombia when Rockefeller Foundation support was phased out
and the cooperating Mexican and Colombian nationals had to carry
on the activities within their respective governmental structures.
The Continuum
The recent trend away from identification of research and
extension as separate functions and toward the concept of agri-
cultural technology as a continuum should help to strengthen
national organizations. National capabilities will be improved
by the systematic development and use of improved technology,
through the sequential steps of research, field station evalua-
tion, farm-field testing, and demonstration/promotion. This
operational continuum could easily be linked to inputs of seed,
fertilizer, and crop protection materials, and to credit sources,
markets, etc.
The conferences on national agricultural research organiza-
tion and management, in New Delhi in March 1971, in Beirut in
December 1973, and in Los Banos in December 1973, have been most
helpful in facilitating exchanges of views on mutual problems.
More such conferences should be held.
Long-term support of agricultural research and development,
on the part of leaders of many developing nations, continues to
be rare. In view of the transiency of top political leadership
it seems essential to foster stronger linkages with civil service
officers working in the upper echelons of government. This should
involve not only the ministry of agriculture but also officials in
finance, rural development, and planning. There should be more
regular communication with decision makers and a greater effort
should be made to call their attention to the progress and re-
sults of the cooperative projects.
Discussion Summary
Before Dr. Moseman began to summarize his paper, Dr. Chandler,
who was chairing the session, asked the group to keep two questions
in mind. "The international centers have been training people
rather thoroughly," he said, "but the national programs haven't
picked up on it. The idea behind the IRRI training program was
that the trainees would go home and train others. This hasn't
worked out. Why?"
And the second, related question "National governments
have been reluctant to launch training programs: why is that and
what can we do about it?"
The Problems of National Programs
Then Dr. Moseman began. He too started with two basic ques-
tions: How do you make a cooperative program work? And how do
you insure that it will persist, after the technical assistance
agency has pulled out? "We can do a program with Rockefeller
Foundation backstopping; how do we get local people to do it
equally well? There have been autonomous operations in Mexico
and Colombia for fifteen years now, and they are less than satis-
factory."
What these programs don't have, he said, are a proper insti-
tutional base and continuing government support.
Moseman also made the point that if you encourage a multi-
disciplinary team approach, you must make sure the teams are
properly balanced. "We must help these countries determine what
the staffs of their research teams should be." He mentioned in
passing an overemphasis on the training of Ph.D.s. "We need more
B.S.-level people on research teams."
One factor contributing to the lack of persistence of cooper-
ative programs is the incompetence of many nationals "because the
selection of fellowship candidates is often biased."
For this reason, Moseman argued for continued Rockefeller
Foundation fellowship support, with the Foundation's usual care-
ful attention to the qualifications of candidates, "with circum-
spection, though, because we're outsiders."
Adaptive research, Moseman went on, has different meanings
for different people. "IRRI training," he said, "teaches trainees
the evaluation of critical problems and also systematic, orderly
solutions to them," which is Moseman's definition of adaptive re-
search.
We Need Leaders
"We tend to idealize the multidisciplinary team approach,"
he said, "but often it doesn't work." For one major reason: tra-
ditionally, scientists compete rather than cooperate. Therefore,
the team needs a strong leader "a Wayne Freeman or a Ben Jack-
son" who can provide continuity and train local people, while
at the same time making sure that cooperation and communication
are in fact taking place. "This requires a great deal of experi-
ence experience which most people haven't had in the U.S."
He strongly urged that the Rockefeller Foundation oversee the
training of young, indigenous project leaders. And that agricul-
tural programs not concentrate too heavily on one commodity. "A
strong wheat program like the one in Turkey can -draw off resources
from other projects."
Questions/Comments
"What should the international centers do about production
training?" asked Dr. Chandler. "IRRI is doing it because no one
else is on the supposition that someday national programs will
take it over."
"A lot of resistance has to be overcome," Dr. Wortman replied.
"There has been a long period of apathy toward basic food crops -
a long history of neglect. Colonial powers concentrated on estate
crops almost exclusively.
"But we have not, as an agricultural community, presented to
national leaders who are not agriculturalists a strategy, a
systems approach, for getting production up."
Four-Point Program
Wortman's strategy has four components, "all of which must
be working effectively or the whole system fails." They are:
high-yielding combinations; competent people who can show farmers
how to get these high yields; inputs; and markets.
Dr. Wortman also felt strongly about "carefully articulated
goals which will not allow for weasel room." How do you state
goals so clearly, so precisely, that you can assign success or
failure? "In the past," said Wortman, "goals were stated in terms
of production. We now need very specific, articulated objectives
about what we want to accomplish for the small farmer. Do we want
to double incomes on 100,000 farms, for example? We have to think,
'What do we want people to lie awake at night worrying about?'"
Making Workable National Programs
Dr. Sanchez was interested in the training of team leaders -
"How are you going to do it?" He himself had been "uneasy" about
the research and extension responsibility he had been given when
he was just out of graduate school: "The IRRI seminars helped me
most."
In his rice project in Peru, he said, there was a clear-cut
goal (self-sufficiency in rice in five years) and a budget "given
to us by the ministry so that we could by-pass the bureaucracy.
"When we left, and local people took over, the style changed -
it became more bureaucratic but the substance was still there.
They've adapted well to the nitrogen shortage, for instance."
Sanchez suggested "starting with an autonomous program and
later folding it into the bureaucracy."
Dr. McKelvey, who was on his way to Zaire, asked the group's
help with what, he said, "I lie awake at night worrying about" -
namely, the situation of the educational system in that country.
"There's great interest in developing food crops and animal pro-
duction there. But the government wants, equally badly, to develop
an educational system and a food production system so it moves
people back and forth. At one point a very effective man was
appointed head of the Faculty of Agriculture. Suddenly, he was
whisked away. But the government must maintain leadership at the
university or nothing will ever happen there."
Zaire, McKelvey said, had developed a system of estate crops
under its colonial government, a system that broke down when out-
side support was withdrawn. For that reason there is no tradi-
tion of local agricultural involvement; it must be created. "An
agricultural education system is fundamental to this."
Internationals vs. Nationals
Dr. Taylor wanted to put on the table the "role of the inter-
national centers and their relation to national programs.
"The fact that competition exists between international and
national programs is not fully conceded," he said. There is some
feeling among nationals that the international centers are "is-
lands of improved resources." Scientists from the developing
world are determined not to be dictated to in terms of their own
programs, but if those scientists are involved in the research
process, "if they do not just get the strategy given to them,"
they will cooperate very effectively.
We must also take the political situation into account,"
said Johnston. "Government people are interested in staying in
power they support what will reinforce their position. Rice
is a major export crop in Thailand; that's why it gets political
recognition, not because it's a major food crop. We must get
results rapidly enough to reinforce politicians if we want to
keep their support."
Miller: "We're doing a good job with the research and
training components of Sterling Wortman's four-point strategy,
but we can do better with the inputs and marketing aspects.
There are areas of business management and public policy where
we here do not have sufficient experience. We need to beef up
our own team in those ways."
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION DEVELOPMENT
Loyd Johnson
At present a farm manager is considered a sub-professional
in an isolated, dead-end position. No wonder, then, that we
don't get large numbers of qualified young people lining up for
the job!
We must make these generalists full partners in the experi-
ment-station operation. Right now they feel that rather than
participating they are being used.
There are some strong historic reasons for this bias against
the generalist: a century ago, the major emphasis was on practi-
cal farming ability; lack of scientific training was a limiting
factor. To correct this, the scientific method was stressed and
eventually overstressed. Scientists now have far too little con-
tact with practical farmers; nor do they wish to be considered
good farmers. Scientific training is highly rewarded; practical
skills are not. Yet now it is the lack of practical skill that
is limiting.
Reorganization
One way to attract and retain competent farm-management
staff is to make their jobs more interesting. I would suggest
combining various functions work on cooperative trials,
demonstration fields, seed production, and so on to make these
positions more attractive to professionals with wide interests.
Apprenticeships
To bring the young scientist into closer contact with the
farm manager, apprenticeship training programs might be insti-
tuted, for high school seniors or undergraduate college students
who volunteer for training during their vacation periods. Train-
ing should be oriented toward developing scientific generalists
who can collaborate with both scientific specialists and farm
workers. Apprentices would work individually with the best trac-
tor drivers, carpenters, plant propagators, and general laborers
to help them carry out their normal duties; they would be paid
slightly less than the master laborers with whom they work. Un-
der no circumstances would a student be given any authority -
which would upset the relationship with his instructor and destroy
the necessary rapport. Trainees would be given reading assign-
ments and be required to keep records and write reports on the
work they had accomplished. The reports would not be graded at
least, not by experiment station professionals. (The student's
high school or college might wish to use them as a basis for aca-
demic credit, however.)
Discussion Summary
"Why has no one ever been presented to me for specific
training in experiment station development?" Dr. Johnson wanted
to know. "We need young men with engineering background they
never show up. So the man who heads the station has no assis-
tance above the level of field foreman."
Limitations
Johnson maintained that maximum support plus maximum freedom
is ideal for scientific research but not for production. In-
creases in productivity require that workers be highly goal-ori-
ented, operational. Agricultural trainees should do either re-
search or operations for a specific period but not both at once.
At present the limitations of agricultural training are se-
vere. On the one hand there are the scientific researchers who
don't want to bother with trainees, on the other are the farm
superintendents whose level of training is too elementary to be
of interest to college students. Competent people are available
for training in operations, however, provided there's a process
for insuring equal prestige and career benefits with research.
Learning the Skills
"One idea worth testing would be to apprentice each trainee
to a skilled worker for short periods," he said. "But to do that
we must first overcome the attitude, which prevails at present,
that it's degrading for a student to learn from these people.
So we must explain to each student what his attitude is to be -
by saying, treat the skilled worker as your instructor. 'This is
the way you'll get the best training.' It's best to use the ap-
prenticeship method with an undergraduate, though. A graduate
student would have too much difficulty relating to a laborer."
He added that apprenticeship work is slow and laborious but
would argue that there's value in that. The laboratory approach
speeds up training but it's very expensive and basically unreal.
It is not the same experience as that of day-by-day operations.
In reality the process is slower. Changing the timing of the
learning process also modifies it.
Cooperation
There must be a higher degree of professional cooperation
between the generalist (the operations and production man) and
the specialist (researcher). Some research projects are so in-
adequately tested that you couldn't convince any farm superinten-
dent of their validity yet they're programs that some research
people are trying to initiate on a national scale.
The new production centers, said Johnson, should not over-
stress the research component. "What you need are model farms
that are producing well. The farmer will come and look over the
fence."
Questions/Comments
Several people spoke to the question that Johnson first
raised: Why are there no trainees?
"Those few who do apply for training are hired off," said
Dr. Jensen. "The pay scale is lower for operations. These jobs
need status and salary incentives and to get that you must con-
vince the leaders of country programs...."
Said Dr. Johnston: "The Rockefeller Foundation is one of
the very few agencies that has tried to train experiment station
people but we have not succeeded in institutionalizing that
training. The developing nations have not picked up on it be-
cause there is no traditional place in the hierarchy for an ex-
periment station manager. It's a highly specialized job and that
man needs an institutional home."
Equal Pay
"What should his salary be in relation to the scientists?"
Dr. Chandler asked. "Say, a man with a M.Sc. degree."
"Equal to a biologist's or agronomist's," replied Dr. Jensen.
"The station manager must be considered full staff in order
to defend himself at staff meetings," said Johnson. "His salary
must be competitive with commercial opportunities."
Dr. Taylor thought it was vital that the operations man be
of an equivalent grade with the scientist, "so they can speak
together as equals."
And Dr. Moseman pointed out that there was too little aware-
ness of the problem partly due to too few publications. He
cited Pomeroy (1970) and Harwood (1971) as being two very good
discussions of the subject. "Besides publications," he said,
"there should be periodic workshops for people from the national
research programs."
Experiment Station Pro and Con
Moseman recalled his own experience in Nepal: "AID bought
the equipment and built the buildings, but it didn't prepare the
land so that precise experiments could be made."
"But there is a known bias on experiment stations, even in
the United States," said Clarence Gray. "There are plenty of sta-
tions, even in our own country, where you can't get valid results
or recommendations that any farmer would follow."
"What would happen if we eliminated experiment stations al-
together," asked Dr. McKelvey, "and worked with farmers in the
field?"
"You'd lose control of your experiment," answered Jensen.
"It would get merged with the rest of the farmer's crop." And
Chandler maintained that "it is important to be able to go from
the lab to the field and back."
Sanchez complained that the location of experiment stations
was often haphazard, resulting in an atypical soil situation:
"Often it's located in a particular place just because someone
happened to donate the land...." But Jensen argued that finding
the perfect experiment station was just about impossible: "There
is a peanut station in North Carolina that we walked all over the
state to locate, but it's still not ideal." Taylor, on the other
hand, took the view that most experiment stations are too ideal:
"Farmers' fields are a better model," he said, echoing McKelvey,
"and there should be more experiments in them."
Special Training
Again the question of specific training for experiment station
managers was raised. Johnson felt young scientists should go through
several periods of short apprenticeships with skilled workers.
He added: "We need a generalist who understands the special-
ist. He should take basic courses not field work because he'll
get that but courses at the theory level in several disciplines
of engineering and agriculture."
Chandler asked if the international centers could have train-
ing programs for farm managers. "Would they get a response from
the national programs?"
"Trainees would switch to research as soon as they could,"
answered Johnson.
"The quality of any college of agriculture is judged by its
experiment station," said Wortman, "the scope of that station's
research, its relevance to the region; also the quality of the off-
station work how effectively improvements reach the farmer. Deans
and college presidents must be worked with they must be made sharp-
ly aware of the importance of experiment station work."
CORN PRODUCTION TRAINING
Dale G. Smeltzer
In the LDCs there is a crying need often understated for
a middle-level group of scientists and technicians who can con-
duct reliable experiments and properly manage laboratories and
fields. At present, reliable results cannot be obtained in many
parts of the developing world because these skilled workers do
not exist in strength.
The universities are concentrating on academic course work,
training students to be generalists. But graduates need experi-
ence and motivation as well as theoretical knowledge. The train-
ing component of the Inter-Asian Corn Program (IACP) is one ap-
proach to solving this problem.
IACP Training
IACP training classes have been conducted in Thailand since
July 1967. A total of 193 trainees from fifteen countries have
participated. Approximately two-thirds had research responsi-
bilities at home, a bit less than one-third were primarily in-
volved in extension, and five were teachers in universities or
technical schools. Trainees were selected by officials in their
national programs, often in consultation with IACP staff and ad-
visers from various donor organizations.
CORN PRODUCTION TRAINING
Dale G. Smeltzer
In the LDCs there is a crying need often understated for
a middle-level group of scientists and technicians who can con-
duct reliable experiments and properly manage laboratories and
fields. At present, reliable results cannot be obtained in many
parts of the developing world because these skilled workers do
not exist in strength.
The universities are concentrating on academic course work,
training students to be generalists. But graduates need experi-
ence and motivation as well as theoretical knowledge. The train-
ing component of the Inter-Asian Corn Program (IACP) is one ap-
proach to solving this problem.
IACP Training
IACP training classes have been conducted in Thailand since
July 1967. A total of 193 trainees from fifteen countries have
participated. Approximately two-thirds had research responsi-
bilities at home, a bit less than one-third were primarily in-
volved in extension, and five were teachers in universities or
technical schools. Trainees were selected by officials in their
national programs, often in consultation with IACP staff and ad-
visers from various donor organizations.
The six-month training periods are held at Farm Suwan, about
155 kilometers northeast of Bangkok. Each trainee is expected to
conduct at least one field project preparing a project outline,
reporting results, and interpreting their meaning. A wide range
of projects has been completed variety trials, fertilizer
trials, soil management trials, insect and disease control studies,
mixed cropping experiments, and seed multiplication plots. The
trainees work together; they do all the work except for basic
land preparation.
The field activity occupies well over half the trainee's
time. The rest is given over to lectures on basic crop produc-
tion, soils and fertilizers, irrigation, marketing, and so on.
Selection
The trainees should be selected for commitment their own,
and that of their program to the role they will fill back home.
It's usually helpful to have more than one trainee from each
program so that they can learn to work together but not so
many that they form an exclusive nationalist group.
Content
IACP training is commodity-focussed, which has both advan-
tages and disadvantages. One major asset is that the entire
class has a common meeting ground; thus, we can give compre-
hensive coverage to corn production, protection, improvement,
marketing, and utilization. However a major liability it
does often lead to over-simplification, and we are at times
tempted to avoid looking at the real world of diversified Asian
farms.
National Programs
Training of local people to perform specific local tasks
should be carried out by the national agricultural programs.
This is not being done. Someone in the national program should
be charged with this responsibility; training staff should be
organized and prepared. Which brings us to another critical
problem there must be trainers. Really effective programs for
training trainers are not now available.
Training Trainers
Trainers who are expected to train village-level workers,
for example in laying down demonstration plots, should be iden-
tified well in advance. Evaluation of teaching aptitude, inter-
est, and general understanding of the job requirements should be
emphasized.
The learn-by-doing concept can apply to trainers. I would
like to see some provision made to identify national trainers
and then have them participate as assistants in training programs
at international institutes or regional centers, where they can
learn training skills. The technical content of demonstrations
should be worked out by research and extension experts within
the national programs, and resource people from these organiza-
tions could help to train trainers. International staff could
help these local staff trainers to identify training needs.
It would then follow that programs to meet these needs could be
effectively organized.
For the next several years, training teams will be as essen-
tial to national programs as the services of agronomists, plant
protectionists, or plant breeders. Development of technology,
without the parallel development of delivery systems, has had
little impact. Staffing patterns for development programs have
an enormous training requirement, which can scarcely be relegated
to a secondary role if we are really committed to coordinated
development programs.
LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION TRAINING
C. P. Moore
The developing countries as a whole have about 70 percent
of the world's livestock resources, yet they produce less than
35 percent of its animal products. While there are many reasons
for this, it is certainly true that considerable technology which
would be useful to ranchers or livestock producers in the LDCs
never reaches them.
Available Technology
A few of the improved practices presently known and in need
of dissemination throughout the developing world are listed.
1. The use of hormones and enzymes as implants or as
feed additives to increase growth rate and feed ef-
ficiency (considered to be one of the greatest ad-
vances in livestock feeding of this century).
2. Crossbreeding for hybrid vigor (natives and exotics).
3. Seasonal breeding to increase reproduction rate, to
facilitate management, and to reduce calf loss.
4. Use of non-protein nitrogen (NPN) to increase the
utilization of cellulose during the dry season, or
in intensive fattening programs.
5. Mineral supplementation (phosphorous) of the breeding
herd to increase conception rate.
6. Vaccines and drugs to control contagious diseases,
parasites, and infections.
7. Artificial insemination heat detection and estrus
synchronization which expedites genetic improvement;
evidenced by their use to increase milk production in
dairy cattle.
8. The use of proper equipment and facilities to increase
efficiency and reduce losses.
9. The use of improved varieties of grasses and legumes
to increase production per land area.
10. Forage preservation to reduce waste in the wet season
and to prevent animal weight loss in the dry season.
We have strong reason, therefore, to strive for more con-
centrated training programs, designed to make the existing tech-
nology available to those who need it most.
LPSTP
At CIAT, the emphasis in the livestock production-specialist
training program (LPSTP) is on management, the soil-plant animal
complex, and communication skills.
The objectives of the course are to reorient professionals
so that they are able to think and function at the commodity level
and also to provide an opportunity for them to learn how to organ-
ize and carry out training courses within their own countries.
The entire program consists of about 15 percent classroom work
and 85 percent field exercises.
Phase One
Students (who are mainly veterinarians) are given a concen-
trated lecture/laboratory course for the first three months of
the twelve month program. In this first phase, more than half
the total number of hours is spent on four subjects: farm
management, ruminant nutrition, communication, and pastures and
forages. It should be pointed out that communication skills
make up 14 percent of the first three months' instruction. The
trainees analyze their own reactions in individual and group ex-
ercises and as a result they begin to better understand them-
selves and each other.
Phase Two
The second, or ranch, phase (which is eight months long)
provides the trainee with an opportunity to put into practice
the theoretical knowledge and ideas that he learned in phase
one in collaboration with a private rancher and under the
supervision of the LPSTP staff. Ranch evaluation, planning,
and program development form a large part of these eight months'
activities.
Phase Three
In the third phase (one month) the trainee returns to the
Center to review his training and write a final report, to meet
with instructors in roundtable conversations, and to discuss ways
in which basic concepts of the training program might be applied
and institutionalized in his home country.
Establishing Programs
The establishment of production training programs in Latin
American institutions has not met with the success we first hoped
for; however, three institutions have adopted some variation of
the CIAT program after having sent trainees through the course.
Basic equipment and trained personnel are essential to
starting up an in-country training program. CIAT can help in
the training of these personnel and to some extent in the organ-
ization and supervision of at least the first national training
program. It will be essential for the national institutions)
to support the cost of its own program and make provisions for
its continuation.
CIAT hopes to maintain contact with the country programs
by continually sending updated information to its alumni as well
as any instructional materials that the Center may develop.
CIAT staff members will also make personal visits as time and
resources permit.
Discussion Summaries
The Smeltzer and Moore papers both on training programs -
were discussed jointly. Dr. Smeltzer, who spoke first, remarked
on the importance of having the Inter-Asian Corn Program operating
within the framework of the regional program. "The station vari-
ety trial was done at Farm Suwan, where the regional program is
located. We have no laborers our trainees do all the work."
He raised a question that others echoed: "Why are the
training programs not being adopted?"
Success Story
As a possible answer to that question, he then described a
successful program in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) of
Pakistan in which there were over 500 on-farm demonstrations of
the "maize-diamond" type. These plots confirmed the validity of
research results and serve as the basis for promotion of the new
technology for adoption by farmers:
1. There were two CIMMYT specialists on site;
2. The Secretary of Agriculture was convinced, enthusiastic,
and made funds available;
3. Job descriptions were worked out, in which every partic-
ipant was told what he would be doing and the time at
which he would be doing it;
4. There was adequate seed production;
5. A large number of extension workers were recruited and
trained;
6. The extensionists were expected to train five other
people at the village level.
The training of extension agents took place in the spring
season, said Dr. Smeltzer, so that they would be ready for the
main campaign, at the time of the monsoons. The program was
brief trainees had only about a week in which to plant but
they came back every two weeks to check on the progress of the
maize crop and in general the instruction was good.
"The inputs were there fertilizer, improved varieties,"
said Dr. Smeltzer. "But I mention them last because it is so
much more important that there be the commitment to make them
available."
Livestock
Dr. Moore then spoke briefly, focussing on specific problems
of livestock production. "There are very few schools of animal
husbandry in Latin America," he said, "therefore problems which
could be solved with existing knowledge go uncorrected." He re-
marked that good technology is developed by first determining
what the problems are, then by finding solutions, and finally by
teaching farmers how to apply these solutions.
Finally, he mentioned some changes that had taken place at
CIAT over time. In the first livestock training program, he
said, there were eleven students ten veterinarians and one ani-
mal husbandry man. Now the ratio is changing. There are fewer
veterinarians, more trainees with experience in animal science,
farm management. Also, relatively large numbers of trainees are
recruited from a fairly small group of countries. "We used to
have seven or more countries represented, with only two or three
people from each," he said, "but we found that they were making
no impact back home. So now we work with fewer countries and
greater numbers of people."
Questions/Comments
Dr. Gray led off by repeating Dale Smeltzer's question:
"Why has there not been more training of trainers? Why have
national governments been reluctant to initiate training pro-
grams of their own?"
Dr. Byrnes had a tentative answer. "I think training of
trainers has not caught on," he said, "because.there is no insti-
tutional home for these people when they return to their own
countries. We need to provide in-service training which will
backtrack into the curriculum." Also, he said, we must work with
the Ministry of Agriculture, explaining to them precisely how
training fits into the overall goal of increased production.
And Dr. Smeltzer said he had seen some changes in various
countries as a result of the impact of the Inter-Asian Corn Pro-
gram: "Junior staff are now willing to work out in the field.
In Pakistan, the government is using trainees in meaningful ways."
Moore mentioned that more and more professors were coming
out to visit the training site, and that ICA (Colombia's national
agricultural research and extension service) is "cooperating;
there's good cross-fertilization."
Pedro Sanchez talked about the introduction of IR 8 rice
into Peru: "We used Peace Corps kids because the Peruvian ex-
tension people were uninterested. After about three months the
Peruvians came into the program."
Dr. Johnston asked Moore whether there was any follow-up of
ranchers who had taken on livestock trainees. Dr. Moore said
yes and that they had increased their calf crop from 50 to 70
percent through improved management with essentially no additional
investment or risk.
Dr. Ajibola Taylor brought up "the relationship between re-
search and extension; they are not on good terms." He suggested
organizing "training programs of joint effort. Research scien-
tists don't know field problems."
Also, he said, criteria must be set up for the "assessment
of success: is it impact on production, research reports, or
what? Our goals are not clear."
Sterling Wortman argued that training must be carried on so
that competent people will be in place when the opportunity comes:
"In Mexico in the '50s," he said, "large numbers of people were
trained. And they were not used until an administration came into
power that wanted to use them. But then they were there."
RICE RESEARCH TRAINING
Ben R. Jackson
When I first went to Thailand in 1966 as a Rockefeller Foun-
dation rice breeder, Thailand's Rice Breeding division which
had had great vitality in the 1950's and early 1960's had begun
to decline.
IRRI's new high-yielding variety of that time, IR 8, was
being widely used in neighboring countries but was considered
impalatable by Thais. As there was no acceptable HYV available,
it seemed as if the Green Revolution was passing them by. Also,
the promotion of the division's leading breeder to be director
general of the entire department had left the group without a
full-time leader. At the same time, the rice department's tech-
nical division (soils, entomology, pathology) had begun to ex-
pand, providing expert technical assistance to its staff plus
scholarships for graduate study. It was not hard, therefore, to
see why morale in the Rice Breeding division was low.
The First Year
My first task was to visit all the rice experiment stations
and as many farmers' fields as possible. Also, I talked at length
with people who were well acquainted with rice farmers' problems.
By the end of the year, three main objectives had emerged:
Identifying promising scientists for overseas graduate
training so that these men, upon their return, could insure con-
tinuity within the division and, in turn, train others;
Instilling confidence in the local staff, who had to be sure
that they were indeed capable of doing significant research; and
Accelerating the rice breeding program, to increase the pres-
tige of the division and to insure that persons returning from
study abroad would have a strong local base.
How We Did It
To accomplish these objectives, we did the following:
1. We chose graduate-training candidates very carefully.
In addition to good grades, we asked that they be recommended by
colleagues who knew them well for such qualities as commitment,
leadership, and the ability to do independent research.
2. We held weekly staff discussion groups in order to open
up new lines of communication among staff members and to increase
people's appreciation of each other's work.
3. To accelerate the rice breeding program we identified
major problem areas that could be improved by breeding, chose
personnel to follow through on particular research tasks, improved
breeding techniques, worked to develop local high-yielding vari-
eties, established an ongoing rapport with IRRI, and fostered co-
operative work with scientists in other fields.
In addition I served as thesis adviser for rice breeding
staff who were earning their degrees at Kasetsart University.
Inputs
Fortunately, one of the researchers in the division had made
a cross between IR 8 and a local long-grain variety which was in
the F-2 generation at the time of my arrival. Within three years
a HYV with the long, translucent grain required by the Thai rice
trade had been developed. This did a great deal to restore the
group's confidence.
IRRI's contributions to the Thai program have been exceed-
ingly valuable. IRRI provided grants for applied training and
graduate study; also, IRRI scientists visited the program peri-
odically and provided new breeding lines.
In turn, the program was able to reciprocate by testing IRRI
material for reaction to Tungro, Gall Midge, and deep-water toler-
ance. This association has resulted in the recent IRRI decision
to extend part of its core program on deep-water rice research
to Thailand a first for any of the institutes.
It was also very helpful to have been allowed by the Rocke-
feller Foundation to spend four months at IRRI prior to beginning
my assignment in Thailand. It enabled me not only to obtain a
working knowledge of the research in progress, but also to become
acquainted with IRRI staff on a first-name basis. Thus, I knew
to whom to address any later requests for assistance.
It soon became apparent that a closer liaison with scien-
tists in other disciplines was necessary if the breeding program
was to reach its full potential. After the release of the first
HYVs, we were able to establish closer cooperation with people in
the Technical division, which resulted in a more complete evalua-
tion of all new breeding material. Also, cooperative work with
Kasetsart University biochemists on protein has resulted in the
identification of some protein-rich local varieties.
Accomplishments
Presently the Rice division has twenty persons with M.S.
degrees. Five were trained at IRRI, four at Kasetsart, the re-
mainder in the United States. This compares with five M.S.-level
scientists in the division at the time of my arrival.
There are five researchers in the program with Ph.D.s in
plant breeding. Three were sponsored by the Rockefeller Founda-
tion, two by the Thai government. There were no Ph.D.s in the
division at the beginning of my assignment.
Seven new hybrid rice varieties have been released. For
the most part they are intended for specific areas where major
problems such as Gall Midge, deep water, and heavy disease out-
breaks are likely to occur.
New research projects underway include rainfed lowland rice,
photoperiod-sensitive HYV, higher protein varieties, and high-
yielding types tolerant to deep water and submergence.
Discussion Summary
Jackson remarked that at a recent rice breeding conference,
three scientists from the Rice division made a formal presenta-
tion; they spoke with total confidence. Eight years ago the
situation was completely different. They had no full-time leader-
ship, IR 8 had passed them by, other departments were booming
and they were just sitting there.
"When I arrived there was only one man with an M.S. in breed-
ing; a short time later he was transferred to an outlying station.
We had zero breeders.
"Obviously, then, our first objective was to train people
rather than produce new varieties. We also had to instill confi-
dence in the people in the division, and finally we had to revise
the breeding program.
"After two or three years I was able to identify a few peo-
ple with a real capability for study abroad. They were given
fellowships. To build confidence, we held weekly meetings in
which the staff would report not me. I told them, 'Nobody in
Thailand is going to breed rice if you don't.' To revise the
breeding program we did a number of things: most notably we
strengthened our relationship with IRRI."
Now, eight years later, there are seven new varieties, thirty
first-grade officers (as compared with one in 1966), there is in-
creasing governmental recognition of the division's work, and
morale is high. The Rice division has five Ph.D.s (some with M.S.
candidates of their own) and twenty persons with M.S. degrees.
And there is good cooperation with Kasetsart and good coopera-
tion with the Technical division.
Questions/Comments
Chandler: "What is the impact of your work on Thailand's
rice production, in terms of both area and yield?"
Jackson: "Dry-season area is up to a half-million hectares
from almost nothing. About 99 percent of the varieties are high
yielding.
"Wet-season varieties, though, are not going out: less than
5 percent of 7 to 8 million hectares are planted to new varieties.
We didn't breed the types we needed; present varieties have no
reaction to deep water. We are well underway with RD 5, however,
which has intermediate stature and can accommodate greater water
depths than the semi-dwarf varieties."
Loyd Johnson remarked that much of Thailand's increased
yield "coincides with the introduction of irrigation systems.
There is an interdependence, here, with water control and credit."
And Dr. Johnston added that in one deep-water area "fewer
than 10 percent of the farmers have seen an extension man but
they are using the new varieties. They are only planting dry-
season rice, however. They channel the water into canals, and
pump it out to irrigate."
CONFERENCE SUMMARY: PRODUCTION TRAINING
At the end of the conference, participants were divided up
into committees to make specific recommendations on three aspects
of training: production training, research training, and univer-
sity training all to be directed toward national development.
Dr. Moore outlined the steps necessary for the in-depth
teaching of production-oriented courses, which he said parenthet-
ically must be "backed in" to universities.
1. University professors must be trained who will include
production in the university curriculum;
2. National officials must be reached. There must be a de-
tailed plan as to how numbers of people can be trained to trans-
fer technology to the farmer;
3. Broad linkages should be established between the inter-
national centers and government policymakers i.e., seminars
with government officials, college rectors, and so on so that
country programs will be adequately backed up at the technical
level. (Along these lines, Dr. Chandler said that while the in-
ternational centers "can get the ball rolling," national programs
have the responsibility to pick up such programs. "Our training
programs at the international institutes should have had more of
a multiplier effect than they've had.")
Dr. Smeltzer then asked at what stage certain kinds of train-
ing actually affected the acceleration of food production.
He mentioned manpower needs at several levels.
Research: For the development of new technology. This, he
said, should be a university function, the work of B.Sc.s, M.Sc.s,
and "a few" Ph.D.s.
Regional testing: These scientists would be testing, on ex-
periment stations, the technology that comes out of the research
centers, and should be at the B.Sc. level or above. They ought
to receive apprenticeship training at the central research sta-
tion which should have its own formal training program.
On-farm testing: Agriculturalists at the technical school
or certification level are needed here. They should be trained
at a regional center.
Demonstration work and seed multiplication work: Large num-
bers of technicians are needed for both these jobs again at the
technical or certification level.
Those going into demonstration work, seed multiplication,
and on-farm testing should be trained in-country, Smeltzer said,
either at national or regional centers, because of the large num-
bers of people that are needed. He suggested that a training
component be built into the regional centers, "if the country can
afford it."
Johnston: "Would you have a different training program for
each crop?"
Smeltzer: "The farmer is growing mixed crops. At the demon-
stration level, information should be location-specific."
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