History and evolution. Resource and crop management. Crop improvement. Plant health management. Looking ahead.

The IITA strategic plan: background and operating principles; The ecological and economic background; Resource and crop management; Commodity improvement; International cooperation; Extract from the west African agricultural research review by the World Bank (1987); The 1988 activities of the crop-based systems working groups; The rice study group report (1986); Consultants to the strategic planning study.

Perspectives; The genepools of rice: collecting activities 1983-1990; The network approach; Wild species and land races; Documentation and data management; Preservation of germplasm; germplasm research and utilizatin; Recommendations of working groups.