rdf-syntax-grammar
mods:
  schema location: http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
  title info:
    title: Peasants, Farmers And Scientists
    sub title: A Chronicle of Tropical Agricultural Science in the Twentieth Century
  name:
    name part: Mutsaers, H. J. W.
    role:
      role term: creator
    role:
      role term: author.
  name:
    name part: SpringerLink (Online service)
  type of resource: text
  origin info:
    place:
      place term: ne
    date issued: 2007
    issuance: monographic
  language:
    language term: eng
  physical description:
    form: electronic
    form: electronic resource
    reformatting quality: access
    form: remote
    extent: XXVIII, 608 p. online resource.
  abstract: This book is a critical account of tropical agricultural science and agricultural development in the twentieth century, in particular in Africa. It describes successes as well as fads and failures, from the perspective of a practitioner of more than 40 years. The emphasis is on the second half of the century, but the story frequently reaches deep into the first half of the century as well. The book’s premise is that the story of tropical agricultural science and agricultural development can be told in a single volume at a more than trivial level, understandable for people of normal intelligence. It tries to uncover what real value there has been in the major areas of study (Farming Systems Research, Natural Resource Management, crop modelling, etc.) after peeling off the multiple protective layers applied by the profession. It also takes a critical look at agricultural and general development which has become inflated with hot air to the point of blowing itself apart in the early twenty first century. A wide range of topics is covered, including interesting early science from the beginning of the last century (sugarcane breeding and shifting cultivation in Indonesia, anthropological studies in German West Africa), fascinating indigenous farming practices in Africa, the history of Farming Systems Research and its offshoots, sense and nonsense of computer modelling of crop growth, and the role of development projects and consultants. The treatment is closely linked with the author's professional career, but the emphasis is on the subject matter.
  table of contents: What Is Tropical Agronomy? -- A Tropical Agronomist's Education -- Old and New: The 1960s and 1970s -- Farmers Are Smarter Than You Think -- Forests, Fallows and Fields -- Farmer Skills, an Elusive Property -- Mainly Technology -- Follies and Sanity of Farming Systems Research -- The Modelling Sorcerers and Their Apprentices -- Donors, Experts and Consultants -- Can African Farming Be Improved? (And Can Agronomists Help?).
  note: by H. J. W. Mutsaers.
  subject:
    topic: Life sciences
  subject:
    topic: History
  subject:
    topic: Agriculture
  subject:
    topic: Plant science
  subject:
    topic: Botany
  subject:
    topic: Soil science
  subject:
    topic: Soil conservation
  subject:
    topic: Development economics
  subject:
    topic: Life Sciences
  subject:
    topic: Agriculture
  subject:
    topic: Plant Sciences
  subject:
    topic: Environmental Monitoring/Analysis
  subject:
    topic: Soil Science & Conservation
  subject:
    topic: Development Economics
  subject:
    topic: History of Science
  classification: S1-S972
  classification: 630
  related item:
    title info:
      title: Springer eBooks
  identifier: 9781402061660
  identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6166-0
  record info:
    record creation date: 100301
    record change date: 20151204173054.0
    record identifier: 978-1-4020-6166-0