AGRICULTURE 



must social scientists begin to de- 

 velop analytic frameworks capable of 

 accepting varied data and providing 

 better, if not the best, answers. 



Priorities for Scientific Effort 



Priorities for scientific effort de- 

 signed to broaden the range of choice 

 available to those who are subject 

 to recurrent drought can be listed as 

 follows: 



1. The assemblage and analysis 

 of existing data in a systems 

 context and its preparation for 

 use in such form as to help 

 answer the agriculturists' pe- 

 rennial questions: where, what, 

 how, and when to plant or 

 graze? 



2. A review of the relationship 

 between the development of 



high-yielding varieties and their 

 moisture requirements, with a 

 view to developing cereal 

 grains combining drought- 

 resistance and higher-yielding 

 qualities. 



3. A search for simplified forms 

 of systems analysis or critical- 

 path analysis capable of iden- 

 tifying crucial obstacles, needs, 

 niches, and interactions in agri- 

 cultural systems related to 

 broadening the range of 

 drought adjustment. 



4. Improvement in the efficiency 

 of irrigation water use. 



5. Review and analysis of existing 

 dry-land cultivation methods 

 with a view to improvement 

 and wider dissemination of 



moisture-conserving tech- 

 niques. 



Research on climatic and 

 weather systems is designed to 

 provide better forecasts of per- 

 sistence in temperate areas and 

 monsoonal delay in tropical 

 areas. 



The thrust of these suggestions 

 is in application, to make more use 

 of what is already known through 

 synthesis and systems analysis or 

 simply scientific review, to seek a 

 marked advance through social sci- 

 ence technique in the adoption of 

 what we already know, and to seek 

 selected new knowledge where the 

 gaps in existing knowledge are great 

 or the opportunities seem particularly 

 rewarding. 



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