Introduction

Agricultural research stations joined with seed farms to select the best of the locally available or readily adaptable foreign seed varieties. The prior development of agricultural research had been largely focused on crops that were important to the imperial powers cotton, tea, rubber, jute, and the like. With some idea of the revolutionary potential of scientific research, governments turned to exhort their "conservative" agricultural research establishments. The large number of economic and agricultural advisors, together with the disproportionate volume of foreign assistance, mostly coming from the United States, skewed the perception of appropriate policy towards what came to be called subsequently "the induced development model." The role of agricultural research after the 1960s was greatly enlarged. In Asia, where there have been few balancing or offsetting factors, the idea of a strong research center has naturally tended to dominate governments' planning and policies for agricultural development.