Annual Report 1971

Abstract

This has been a transitional year or the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical, a transition from project plans to research programs, from architectural drawings to completion of some of the principal structures, and from discussions about production systems concepts to field efforts to identify, describe, and understand the components of various systems. These transitions have helped sharpen our objectives and to consolidate efforts toward achieving the basic mission of CIAT: To accelerate agricultural and economic development and to increase agricultural production and productivity of the tropics so as to improve the diets and welfare of the people of the world. Several events helped management and staff to appraise present programs and to plan future activities. These included the Seminar on Strategies for CIAT in which all senior staff members participated in March, two meetings of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, and two meetings of the Board.