Science and Technology Mailing List Archive

["Dick Tinsley" <<address removed>>]

I tend to be a little concerned with models.  They appear too academic for
me.  My biggest concern is who are they for. I can see them as donor or
government tool to assist in overall planning, but not really a farm level
implementation tool.  I can appreciate the possibility of physical models
determining yield potential under different parameters, and I can appreciate
economic models on the profitability of different options.  However, I have
rarely seen the two effectively combined, but the farmers effectively have
to continually combine their physical and economic environments.

Also,  with the difficult extension programs have in communicating basic
agronomic information, how would the more sophisticated information
developed from models be communicated to the farmers.

Finally, to what extent do models assume the farmers have full discretionary
decision making power and the unconstrained resouces to fully implement
thier production desire over their entire holding?  I am more inclined to
think of most farmers decisions more compromised in which they are forced to
go with a flow of events largely beyond their control.  This is again
largely related to the limited resources available to implement their farm
management desires and the need to compromise quality for extent as the crop
establishment is spread out and yield potentials are declining.  These are
really how the mobile resources such as contract power and the casual labor
pool migrate from farm to farm over a community.  It requires a community
analysis more than an individual farm analysis.  This would be difficult for
models to pick up.

Just some concerns.


Dick

____________________________
Developing Smallholder Agriculture: A Global Perspective - R.L. Tinsley
AgBe Publishing, <address removed>; US$39 +S&H


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