Lecture 15
Tropical Agricultural Research

Agricultural development is a key component for the improvement of living standards and economic growth in the tropical world.

However, it has been considered more difficult to improve agriculture than to establish a modern steel industry, for example, because to improve agriculture the whole fabric of society must be changed.

In the l960s and l970s achievements in the transfer and diffusion of agricultural technology to the tropical world has been coined the "green revolution."

The basis was the development of high yielding wheat and rice.

These improved grains were short stemmed, photoperiodically insensitive, and both fertilizer requiring and responsive.

The green revolution has an enormous impact in preventing famine and increasing food production in the tropical world that were beset with exploding populatins.

The greatest results were achieved in India, Pakistan, and Mexico, once food deficit countries, but presently producing modest surpluses in feed grains.

Food production has also increased in China but this was largely due to their own efforts in agricultural research (e.g. hybrid rice).

Norman E. Borlaug, 1970 recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace.

Working with hybrid wheats at the CIMMYT Toluca station, Mexico.

At the present time only Africa still remains a serious problem.

The model for this change has been the development of international agricultural research centers that are focused on individual crops.

The greatest results have come from CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre) in Mexico emphasizing research in maize, wheat, and sorghum and IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) located in the Philippines and dealing almost exclusively with rice.

Both of these organizations were originally supported by Foundations such as the Ford and Rockefeller plus government support principally of the United States but are now financed by broader participation.

Originally the basic work was in genetic improvement concentrating on increasing yields through response to fertilizer and disease resistance with broad adaptability achieved by photoperiod insensitivity.

In addition the improved wheat and rice were short stemmed so that they did not fall over (lodge) and were thus responsive to increase fertilization.

However, the green revolution was not a simple substitution of improved new cultivars but rather the imposition of a new technological system that involved increased inputs such as fertilization and pesticides, and improved management.

This required a increased credit and education and put subsistance farmers further behind.

Present Structure of the International Agricultural Research Network