5 ref.

This paper describes the method used by the National Agricultural Research Fund of Venezuela (Fondo Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias - FONAIAP) to characterise agricultural systems. One of the principal interests in systems analysis is to ensure better coordination between research efforts and farmers' needs. The most important steps in this procedure are the identification and classification of systems in current use and the description of those considered to be of main significance. The information is valuable at the regional level to study problems of credit, marketing, technical assistance needs etc., at the farm level to study the optimisation of resource use and the possibility of transferring technologies between units, and at the level of the agro-ecosystem (e.g. group of animals or field) to detect specific problems and the factors which cause, or are related to, them