Adequate emphasis is not given to integrated management and sustainable harvesting of natural resources. Linkages among research institutes, extension organisations, and the public sector development agencies are often weak. These institutions have confined themselves to oncampus teaching and thesisoriented academic research. As a result, they have little contact with the agricultural community and are, therefore, not necessarily involved in finding appropriate solutions to serious problems. In most cases, there is very little interaction with the farmers, resulting in serious adverse consequences on the quality, relevance, and usefulness of the knowledge imparted.
Funds are insufficient to carry out effective research and outreach programmes.
It is difficult to argue that universities based in mountain regions should focus on mountain relevant subjects only, as the opportunities and outlets to absorb their product with such specific skills may be very limited. In more successful initiatives, such as those taken at the Lumle and Pakhribas agricultural centres in Nepal and in Himachal Pradesh in India, mountain specificities have played a key role in determining choices of technology. These experiences highlight the need to identify problems carefully, get feedback from the farmers themselves, and give appropriate institutional back-up to address these issues. While there may be many other obstacles to making this transition, a more serious problem appears to be in the lack of knowledge and skills required to bring about the needed changes. While different agencies have crucial roles to play, the main challenge lies for research and education systems, to determine the type of technological options as they are responsible for the development of human resources capable of bringing about the changes needed for sustainable mountain agriculture.