Failures in technology transfer: Are farmers overlooked?

Technology transfer and attempts to improve farming systems in the Middle East and North Africa have not yet succeeded in significantly improving production of cereals and livestock. The authors suggest that the problem may be in the communication between expert and farmer, with the role of farmers being underestimated in the transfer process. The development and dissemination of the South Australian integrated cereal/livestock system both in South Australia and in North Africa and the Middle East as an example of how the demonstration of farming skills is ignored by policy makers.