FAO's Need for Rodent Ecology,Population Dynamics and Forecasting Data1

During the past decade, technical assistance in rodent damage control has tended to utilize less and less resources per problem, while the results expected per unit of resources used has rapidly mounted. The developing world, with its multitude of needs, lacks personnel, funds and organizational infrastructure for self-help. The donor world, with its inflation, requires justification and the prospect of probable achievement of objectives prior to sponsoring assistance. On the basis that these trends are likely to continue, it is proposed that: 1) national rodent damage control assistance be action-oriented; 2) multi-country assistance rapidly evaluate damage control strategies of stubborn, common problems; 3) both national and multi-country assistance projects be designed with the flexibility to accept unsatisfactory results in objective achievement and to move to a slower, more certain route, such as development of ecological and population dynamics data; 4) co-operation among agencies, donors and developing countries be increased for more effective use of scarce resources; and, 5) an ad hoc advisory group of vertebrate pest control specialists meet in 1977 to give guidance in further strategy refinement for development assistance. With the hope of avoiding frequent use of the flexibility of assistance project design, data from the more developed world on ecology, population dynamics and forecasting should be examined in all developing country projects as to possible useful extrapolations which will increase the likelihood of achieving objectives within the available resources.