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Research focused on helping people in underdeveloped areas can be elegant and have real academic value. Strategies for effective low-cost research include an interdisciplinary approach, creative fundraising, and alternative ideas for allocating time and personnel.
In Part 1 of this three-part series, Dr. Price provided a brief glimpse into his rather unique background which led him to focus on research that can serve people in developing countries. Here in Part 2 he shares some observations and suggestions for how such research can be made possible at colleges or research institutions.
In what ways can science and technology serve the poor and underserved?
I have been unbelievably blessed in my middle class
life by advances in technology. I think of the blood pressure medicine that
probably keeps me alive, my shirt that does not need to be ironed, airplanes
that take me to conferences, tires that seldom go flat, productive farms that
keep the cost of food at a low percent of my budget, etc. All of these have one
thing in common: either the government, another third party or I spend money on
my behalf to bring these benefits to me.
Therein lies an important screen for recognizing a
research project that would benefit the very poor—it must not require money to
make use of the result. Some of the working poor might earn $100 a year. Some
earn nothing and have only what they grow or collect. (There is one exception
to this. I can envision research that develops a process or design that becomes
the basis for a small business that costs money to establish, but the new
product gives employment to the poor.)
What could we ever develop using science that would
cost the poor nothing? It is not hard to think of examples. We could develop a
non-hybrid seed of an important crop that is able to resist a serious disease.
(However, even much university plant breeding research these days is directed
toward developing hybrid, proprietary seeds to fund the lab, either under
contract from a company or in hopes of patenting and selling the variety). We
could develop a way to produce an effective antibiotic ointment as a
micro-enterprise in a remote Third World community (see “Make an Antibiotic
Ointment from Seeds of the Moringa Tree” in Part 3). We could study a medicinal
plant, not with the aim of identifying and synthesizing the drug to make it
into a pill, but to put quality information into the hands of doctors who serve
the exceptionally poor so they could make reliable “prescriptions” based on use
of the plant.
The Nature of the Problem
Poor health, hunger, poverty and a lack of education
are often the result of a community that is “economically sick” because the
agricultural backbone of the economy is so unproductive. It is a bottomless pit
to send only medical assistance to treat diseases caused by poor nutrition and
yet to do nothing about unproductive farms. An example that might impact a
farm’s productivity is research on how to make a rat poison from a local tree
(I will provide specific suggestions in a subsequent article for “Leaves of the
Gliricidia Tree to Control Rats?”)
Solving these problems requires the efforts of some of
our most talented people, both in laboratories and in the field, by scientists and
community development specialists. Agriculture needs skilled, dedicated and
intelligent people every bit as much as does medicine or ecology. As for the
academic value, a student can gain the same insights into the nature of the
research process and experience using the tools of that branch of science by
doing the right “applied” project as by doing basic research.
Research at Universities or International Research Centers
First let me say that I am thinking of scientists who
are primarily working in the “hard sciences” like chemistry, biochemistry, and
biology because that is my background. Opportunities for applied research are
likely to be more abundant and possibly more appreciated by others in the
department if you work in applied science departments like agronomy, food
science or animal science. (Opportunities are especially abundant in
engineering fields. I do not address engineering because I know so little about
it.) Many, but not all, of my comments will be relevant in either situation.
Larger institutions provide an order of magnitude more
resources, including time, dollars and libraries. They would seem to be the
ideal place to tackle problems like those I will later describe. But there is
one serious problem—they lack flexibility to do something just because it is a
great research idea and needs to be done.
As I understand it, university researchers must find a
potential funding agency and write a successful grant application that includes
a portion of their salary plus overhead for the university. In contrast,
low-budget research at a college can be undertaken at some minimal level at the
decision of the researcher, but will require a lot of creativity and probably
some personal sacrifice in terms of working for nothing during the summers.
Organization of universities into academic disciplines
can be a serious barrier to problem-solving as well. Successful problem-solving
research is often, even usually, inter-disciplinary. I was fortunate during my
three years of post-doctoral research in the biochemistry department at Purdue University.
The international studies office had pulled together several departments in a
successful grant to work on a range of problems concerning cultivation and use
of sorghum in the tropics. This allowed me to go in whatever direction was
needed to solve a problem. I co-published with biochemists, agronomists and
animal scientists and led one project in Puerto Rico with ornithologists from
the US Fish and Wildlife Department.
A more common situation is that a scientist will have
a grant for her department and that department only. There would be little
enthusiasm if she suddenly asked the chairman to let another department use a
big portion of the grant because she now realized that their help was going to
be needed to solve the total problem. Since so little money is involved in
research at colleges, the only barrier to collaboration is, hopefully, finding
a like-minded colleague.
Another problem, if you are in one of the “hard
science” departments, is that your colleagues may place little value on what
they perceive as less elegant research. There are occasions where you must make
a decision—to go in the best direction to solve a problem or to choose a
direction that would require more skill, that stays clearly within your
discipline, and that would lead to more elegant papers. That is not to say that
problem-solving research cannot be elegant. For a great example, I would refer
you to a research project between Purdue professors Dr. Larry Butler in
biochemistry and Dr. Gebisa Ejeta in agronomy. Their research led to non-hybrid
sorghum (i.e. farmers could save and increase their own seed) that was not
affected by the horrible parasitic weed striga. The research was not only
elegant but is a great benefit to the poorest of the poor in Africa (1, 2, 3).
The 15 international agricultural research centers
that are part of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR) specialize in using agricultural science to help the poor. They are
supported by the United Nations and other major donors. Each Center specializes
in just a few areas of agriculture. For example, CIAT (International Center for
Tropical Agriculture) in Colombia specializes in beans, cassava, tropical
forages and tropical fruits. IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) in
the Philippines specializes in rice. They bring together some of the best
scientists in those fields from all over the world. They often work on problems
of both the large and the small farmer. As an example of the work that these
centers do, let me site one major project of the work of CIMMYT (International Center
for Improvement of Corn and Wheat) in Mexico. CIMMYT specializes in corn and
wheat. A few years ago they developed a high-yielding corn that had high amounts
of the limiting amino acid lysine. They deliberately chose not to develop a
hybrid so that farmers could increase their own seed. The CGIAR centers
definitely would provide a career outlet for a scientist to do research that
would benefit the poor. You can see a list of all 15 centers and links to their
individual websites at www.cgiar.org.
If you are a student considering a research career,
there will likely be greater opportunities at larger institutions, providing
you can get around the problems just discussed. I would be surprised if either
the International Centers or universities undertook projects such as I am
proposing here. If I am wrong and they do, then no doubt they could devote much
more time and resources to solving the problems than could the undergraduate
college. Until they do, these research ideas are wide open to scientists at
smaller institutions.
Funding at Small Private Colleges
When I started at ECHO I had hardly a clue how to
raise money to accomplish our goals. I have learned that churches, civic clubs,
private company donations committees, and the public are all surprisingly
supportive. If a non-profit organization can raise money for work on hunger,
why shouldn’t a small college raise money to support a modest hunger-related
research program? (This would, of course, require the endorsement of the
president and development director.)
I have learned that if four things are in place,
successful fundraising becomes possible:
- Vision. You must have a sharp, well-conceived idea that will cause
people to say, “My gift to that program will really make a difference.”
- Competence. You must have competent people with the facilities and time
commitment that will cause people to say, “This team can really make the vision
happen.”
- Integrity. People must easily recognize a clear moral and ethical
commitment and high principles so that they will say, “I can trust these people
to use my money carefully and well.”
- Planning. You must have a convincing plan that shows you know how you
are going to proceed toward your goal.
The reverse side of this is that if any one of these
is lacking, either you will not easily succeed in raising funds or donors may
well be disappointed in the results.
Create a Post-Bachelors Research Associate Position
I have learned that there are many highly qualified
young people who are eager for a meaningful opportunity for service that also
prepares them for a future career. They are willing to work for little, but
seldom can work for nothing. For 25 years my organization, ECHO, has relied
heavily on the service of interns. (As of summer 2005 we have had 140 interns).
We pay them $450 per month plus housing, health insurance, and “browsing
rights” to food produced on “the farm.” [ECHO’s farm or “Global Village” is
designed to train interns, students and overseas development workers in
tropical agriculture. Tours of the Global Village are enjoyed by over 10,000
tourists, local residents, schools, and church communities each year. Tours are
used to educate about agricultural issues in developing countries, while
discussing possible solutions.]
Many scientists have served in post-doctoral research
associate positions, so why not create a post-bachelors research associate
position at a private college? What an unusual opportunity you could provide.
Dr. Rolf Myhrman at Judson college in Illinois has had some success with this
model and I am sure would be glad to share his insights with you. Drop me an
email for contact information.
An Overseas Connection?
The range of possible research ideas would be greatly
multiplied if you have a connection with someone working in a developing
country. It might be a foreign student you knew who is now working outside of
your particular zone of influence. Colleges often develop a special
relationship with a particular college, NGO, mission or community. This might
allow collection of plant material for your lab, testing of a medicinal plant
for its ability to control worms in goats, or field-testing of a method for
control of leaf-cutter ants in a real-life setting.
Looking for Research Ideas
The ideas below and in Part 3 are meant to point you
in a direction to help you develop a good idea that is likely to benefit the
poor. Not all have equal potential to impact the poor. These are obviously not
fully developed research proposals! Some are developed more fully than others.
In particular, ECHO has usually not done thorough literature reviews. Naturally
that is where you will want to start. It is possible that you will find that
the question has already been answered. If so, that is bad news for you but
good news for us. If it happens, please let us know what you found.
Many of the ideas to follow can be done in a small
laboratory in a northern climate. Others will require someone going to a
tropical or subtropical setting. How could you have such an opportunity if you
live in a temperate climate? One possibility is to tap into any overseas
connections that you or your college may have, as described above. ECHO
operates an Agricultural Resource Center in Haiti that specializes in adaptive
research at the center as well as by farmers in their own fields. There might
be occasions where ECHO could become a collaborator.
One fertile field for finding research topics is the
need for validating (or disproving) simple remedies that are widely held but
have not been formally studied. Many times we have reported in ECHO Development
Notes how an important problem can reportedly be solved by some technique. All
too often the development worker reading it will, in effect, need to do his/her
own research if this is tried, because no one can be sure it will work. Other
times the validity of an appealing “solution” is so uncertain that we do not
even mention it in EDN.
Start with a Literature Search
A cornerstone of good science is that a research
project is not begun until the literature has been searched to see what others
have learned and suggested. Sometimes it is also necessary to phone or write
for information that may not be published.
Sometimes people seem to be more interested in a
creative experience than in solving a problem. I have seen this in appropriate
technology designs in particular. From our perspective, a new design or
experiment should be undertaken only if a clear-cut case can be made that it
needs to be done. If you are considering the need for a more efficient cook
stove and there are already 85 designs, your best contribution might be to
provide a perspective to compare the various existing designs that have been
made, rather than make an 86th design.
A Great Example of a Research Project with Results That Are Readily
Available to the Poorest of the Poor
A Tanzanian graduate student at Michigan State
developed a simple solution to one of the world's major food storage problems.
Larvae of the bruchid beetle bore entry holes in a bean’s surface and eat the
insides, leaving empty shells. Fumigation methods are effective, but are not
always possible (or desirable) in the third world. She attacked the problem by
studying how soft-bodied larvae are physically able to bore through the smooth,
hard surface of a dried bean (4).
She learned that the larvae scrape the holes with
their mouths, but first must brace themselves against a hard surface—a
neighboring bean or the wall of a container holding the beans. A bean that does
not abut another bean or other hard surface cannot be invaded.
She also learned that it takes 19-24 hours for a
weevil to bore an entry hole. She hit on the idea of occasionally tumbling
stored beans in order to dislodge weevil larvae before they could finish
scraping their holes. Calculations showed that it would be highly unlikely
after tumbling that a previously started hole would still be close enough to an
abutting surface to be useful to a larva. The larvae would have to start new
holes.
Experiments proved her right. “Rather than the normal
20-fold increase per generation, beetle populations in tumbled beans fell to
1/3 of the starting population.” Tumbling intact beans morning and evening in a
variety of glass and plastic containers, as well as burlap bags, consistently
gained excellent results. The tumbled containers had 97 to 98% fewer weevils
than were found in stationary control containers. Even when many of the beans
had been cracked during harvesting, results were excellent (95%). After only
two or three days, the larvae, except for the few that managed to enter a bean,
either starved or were crushed by the tumbling.
How was the tumbling done? “Sacks of beans were twice
turned end-over-end 2-3 times a day. Tumbling was faithfully conducted until
about one week after inspection revealed no live adults.”
Will tumbling be a useful control for other storage
pests? “Tumbling is unlikely to be as disruptive to the cowpea weevil, whose
larvae bore directly into beans from eggs glued to the seed surface.” Several
criteria of pest biology are listed to help in evaluating the likely success of
tumbling. But even if the pest biology is not known, “regular tumbling could be
attempted, just to see if there were benefits worth the modest effort.”
ECHO has compiled the first 15 years of EDN into a
book called Amaranth to Zai Holes: ideas for growing food under difficult
conditions. You can read it on our web site or purchase it at our on-line
bookstore. Both can be found at www.echonet.org. This book can provide a wealth
of ideas for research as well as an understanding of the kinds of things that
are of concern to people working to assist small-scale farmers in developing
countries.
I encourage you to look at Part 3 of this essay and in
the Call for Studies section of this journal for an ongoing list of
ideas that might interest or excite you, and may fit the needs of a currently
underserved group of people.
What is the Role of Small NGOs?
Though we are quite interested in each of these
topics, we have time only to be a catalyst, idea generator, networker and
disseminator of information. In some cases we may be able to provide products
from a needed tropical plant, or at least seed for that plant. Each project
will be the responsibility of the sponsoring faculty member. The ideas
presented here will, hopefully, only be starting points from which that faculty
member’s research effort branches out, as led by the results of the initial
work. One possible outgrowth of such research might be the establishment of a
special arrangement with someone (perhaps a missionary or Peace Corps
Volunteer) for faculty and/or students to conduct research in their community
overseas on a volunteer basis during the summer.
You might want to check with us before beginning with
one of these research ideas. Someone at another college may already be working
on some aspect of the problem. We can at least put you in touch with each
other. Maybe you are a chemist and the researcher at the other college is a
biologist and the project would be much stronger (and more interesting) as a
collaborative effort.
Each of the research questions that I will pose in
Part 3 is directly relevant to ECHO’s overseas network (over 2500 people in 160
countries). When results are obtained that we deem to be truly of general
interest to those whom we serve overseas, we will be sure to make a note about
them in our networking newsletter, ECHO Development Notes (EDN), and in
this journal.
Refereed research publications are always to be
encouraged. Both ECHO and Trees for Life can help make research even more
rewarding by quickly getting information that is new and practical into the
hands of those who can put it to immediate use.
References
- Ejeta
G, L Butler and AG Babiker. New Approaches to the Control of Striga.
Agricultural Experimental Station, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.
- Butler
LG, G Ejeta and DE Hess (1989) Striga: a model for collaborative
interdisciplinary research. Proceedings of the International Sorghum and
Millet CRSP Conference, Scottsdale, AZ. University of Nebraska, Lincoln NE,
pp. 119-122.
- Hess
DE, G Ejeta and LG Butler. Research into germination and Striga seed by
sorghum root exudates. In: Ransom, et al. (eds.) (1991) Proceedings of the
Fifth International Symposium on Parasitic Weeds, Nairobi, Kenya.
pp. 217-222.
- Quentin
ME, JL Spencer and JR Miller (1991) Bean tumbling as a control measure for the
common bean weevil, Acanthoscelides obtectus. Entomologia Experimentalis
et Applicata 60:105-109.