Al INTEGRATED APPROACH TO THE


  IH1PROVE11ENT OF FAR'I PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

                               Peter E. Hildebrand



     The improvement of the production systems of
 traditional of subsistence farmers as opposed to more modern and commercial farmers, presents unique challenges. Traditional farmers continue to use historic Droduction practices both because they have proven satisfactory over many year's time in both feast and famine
       and because no newer or more modern technology has been made available to them in a form which is acceptable. Research, or technology generation, based on the needs of modern; commercial agriculture mostly fails to produce appropriate alternatives for traditional farmers. In turn, technology transfer fails because what is being presented as alternatives is not, in fact, appropriate. The traditional farmer, many times, is being sold a product he does not want and cannot use.

     The historic use of experiment stations as research facilities in areas-of advanced agriculture functioned well because the resources of the clients were sirailar to those utilized on the stations. In addition, commercial farms operate asia business; so criteria on which to judge new practices are easy to define. Furthermore, tractors act as anteffieient homogenizing force, so that new technologies can have widespread applicability.

     The traditional farmer operates in a compl-ctely
different -environment. He has goals and criteria on which to judge alternate technologie-swhich differ greatly from our traditionally used concept of profitability. Many times these goals are difficult for technicians to understand, and equally difficult to define. An even more complex factor to conquer is a high degree of site specificity which complicates bot-h the generation and transfer of improved technology for traditional farmers.

1. Agricultural Economist, The Rockfeller Foundation,
   assigned as Coordinator de Socioeconomia Rural.
   Institute de Ciencia y -ecnologia Agricolas 
   ICTA, Guatemala.