RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT REORIENTATION: POLICY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract: This paper amphasizes the need for a much more vigorous reorientation of Research and Development. Governments, research institutions as well as farmer’s organizations should advance low-cost, locally adapted technological development that improves both the overall productivity and the environmental and social sustainability of more extensive and traditional knowledge-based farming systems. Research should be re-oriented towards the needs of small-scale and family farmers and sustainable agriculture, and it should become more farmer-led. In addition, research should professionalize the exchange of traditional knowledge, because in times of global environmental change and fast-evolving economic restructurings, traditional knowledge, sustainable farming practices, and small-scale marketing strategies must be constantly improved by inter-cultural learning and information sharing