SOIL FAMILIES - HAWAII (3/9-3/23/79)

EVALUATION WAS CONDUCTED THROUGH ON-SITE INSPECTION. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT THE PROJECT IS LIKELY TO MEET ITS OBJECTIVES AND IS MAKING VALUABLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY AMONG COUNTRIES OF INTER-TROPICAL AREAS. EXPERIMENTAL WORK, FIELD ORGANIZATION, COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF OPERATIONS, AND TRAINING AND INFORMATIONAL PROGRAMS WERE DEEMED TO BE OF HIGH QUALITY. A SOILS NETWORK HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED AND IS OPERATING IN 3 AREAS -- HAWAII, THE PHILIPPINES, AND INDONESIA. THE FOURTH AREA WILL START OPERATING DURING 1979. MANAGEMENT EXPERIMENTS RELATED TO THE ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF THE LOCAL FARMER HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT ONE APPLICATION OF LIME AND PHOSPHOROUS WILL BE SUFFICIENT FOR SEVERAL SUCCESSIVE CROPS. FOR MAIZE, NITROGEN AND PHOSPHOROUS WERE FOUND TO BE LIMITING, WHILE FOR SOYBEANS LIMITING FACTORS WERE PHOSPHOROUS, POTASSIUM, AND MOLYBDENUM. THIS DATA PROVIDES AGRICULTURAL PLANNERS WITH ALTERNATIVES IN DETERMINING BEST LAND UTILIZATION FOR FOOD PRODUCTION. NUMEROUS ACTIVITIES ARE IN PROGRESS RELATED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A WORLDWIDE NETWORK FOR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERENCE INCLUDING PUBLICATION OF A QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER, PERIODIC REPORTS, TRAINING WORKSHOPS, SYMPOSIA, A DATA BANK MODEL, AND WORKING RELATIONSHIPS WITH INTERNATIONAL CROP RESEARCH CENTERS AND OTHER APPROPRIATE INSTITUTIONS. A 3-YEAR CONTRACT EXTENSION IS RECOMMENDED