MART-AZR Project Research Report 15: Guiding AZRI into the 21st Century - Strategic Planning Options for the Next Decade

Abstract

The status of the Arid Zone Research Institute by the year 1990 is presented in the context of its historical and budgetary development. The role of the first phase of the MART/AZR project in the institutional development of AZRI and the formulation of its current research priorities and areas of geographical emphasis is discussed, The need for a further support phase from outside agencies is stressed in order to ensure that the major advances in institutional capability evident in the period 1985-90 are maintained. The question of whether the Arid Zone Research Institute is to fulfill its extremely comprehensive national mandate is raised, and the concomitant need for further geographical expansion of effort, personnel and resources is outlined. Options are presented from which policy selections can be made which could guide the Institute's research policy in the next decade. These options are based on scientific, logistical and political considerations but maintain the Institute’s basic philosophy of a multidisciplinary systems approach necessary for providing workable solutions to the agricultural problems of the dry areas of Pakistan. If no substantial expansion of the Institute's resources is contemplated in the next decade, research policy option is presented which largely maintains the current position in Upland Baluchistan with continuity of token efforts in the other province of Pakistan.