SOIL FAMILIES - HAWAII [SPECIAL EVALUATION REPORT - A1]

THIS EVALUATION, CONDUCTED ON-SITE BY A TEAM OF EXPERTS, IS ATTACHED TO THE PES DATED 6/15/79 (PD-AAF-309-A1). DURING THE INITIAL TRANSFER STUDIES AT THE MAUNALOA SITE ON MOLOKAI, PHOSPHOROUS AND LIME WERE THE VARIABLES SELECTED TO TEST THE TRANSFER CONCEPT. HOWEVER, LACK OF RESPONSE TO LIME LED TOTHE SELECTION OF NITROGEN AS A REPLACEMENT. ALTHOUGH SOYBEANS WERE UNDER INVESTIGATION AT THAT TIME, CORN HAS BECOME THE SOLE TEST CROP IN THE TRANSFER AND MANAGEMENT EXPERIMENTS BECAUSE OF THE NITROGEN PARAMETER. AT THE IOLE AND KUKAIU SITES ON THE ISLAND OF HAWAII, A MARKED RESPONSE TO PHOSPHOROUS, BUT NOT LIME WAS DEMONSTRATED. HOWEVER, LITTLE RESPONSE OCCURRED BEYOND THE FIRST LEVEL OF APPLIED PHOSPHOROUS DUE TO AN OVERESTIMATION OF PHOSPHOROUS NEED BY THE FOX SORPTION METHOD. SEVERAL CONSECUTIVE CORN CROPS HAVE SHOWN A SIGNIFICANT RESIDUAL CARRYOVER OF PHOSPHOROUS. THE EVALUATORS WERE IMPRESSED WITH THE EXCELLENCE IN PERSONNEL AND COMMENDED THE PROJ STAFF FOR THE ACTIVE TRAINING COMPONENT. QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF INFORMATIONAL MATERIAL ARE RATED EXCELLENT. ALSO, CONSULTING STATISTITIANS WERE JUDGED TO BE DISPLAYING A HIGH DEGREE OF COMPETENCE AND INNOVATION IN DEVELOPING THE TRANSFER MODEL. RECOMMENDATIONS WERE MADE IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS: 1)STRENGTHENING THE STATISTICAL EVALUATION AND DOCUMENTATION OF THE PROJECT; 2)DOCUMENTING DIFFICULTIES AND CONSTRAINTS OF ANALYTICAL METHODS AND THE NEED FOR LIMITED TISSUE ANALYSIS; 3)INCREASING EMPHASIS ON THE DOCUMENTATION OF THE DATA BANK AND BENCHMARK TECHNOLOGY; 4)STRENGTHENING THE TECHNICAL VISIBILITY OF THE PROJECT AND CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE TRAINING PROGRAM; AND 5)STRENGTHENING CERTAIN MANAGERIAL ASPECTS OF THE PROJECT SUCH AS REGULAR MEETINGS OF PROJECT LEADERS, INTERACTION WITH USAID MISSIONS, ADDITIONAL CONSULTANTS, TIGHTER CONTROL OF MANAGEMENT EXPERIMENTS, AND RELOCATION OF ONE OF THE PROJECT LEADERS.