PART ONE: RESEARCH FRAMEWORK

Over millions of years, nature has built up an intricate system of relationship of exchange and mutual dependence among its elements - land, water, air, forest, sunlight and living things - to create what we call the ecosystem. It is the life support system of all living things on this planet and provides not oniy the daily needs but also saves resources for future generations. But this very life support system is endangered by man's aggression against nature. In the last few decades, the aggression has reached unprecedented levels.

This paper states that, in Africa, smallholder agriculture is the main source of employment for the majority of the rural population and the bulk of the staple food is produced by this segment of the population.

Abstract
The persistent interplay of food production problems, land
degradation, and social and climatic difficulties on the Horn of
Africa result in recurring famines in spite of vast sums of money
spent on agricultural development. As land resources--which
undergird both social and production systems in Africa--become
increasingly degraded, development efforts, especially in
problematic areas, need to become part of comprehensive resource
use programs that take into account the existing regional land

Over the last 12 years a data base of climate, soils and crop distribution has been assembled for Latin America. Recently, socio-economic variables such as access and populations density and environmental variables such as the location of national parks, biological reserves and indian reserves have been added. Formerly this information was used primarily to make decisions on commodity research.