The basic objective of agricultural research at ICARDA is to enhance producer and consumer welfare through increasing the productivity, stability, and profitability of agriculture. Improved practices must be technically, economi­ cally, and socially suitable to farmer conditions. The rainfed areas of West Asia and North Africa have highly variable environmental conditions as well as complex social and economic structures. In recent years, the region has been experiencing major changes in the relative availabilities and costs of the classical factors of production: land, labor and capital. These changes have important implications for the design of new agricultural technology. On the one hand, the availability of labor may be an important factor determining the acceptability of new technology. On the other, it is important to consider the impact that technology can have on rural employment. To develop a better awareness ofthese issues and their relevance to technology development, ICARDA initiated a project on Agricultural Labor and Tech­ nological Change (ALTC). The first stage of the project was a review of existing information' on these issues; this review was published as a book under the title Labor and Rainfed Agriculture in West Asia and North Africa.

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The Impact of Technology on Employment in the Rainfed Farming Areas of Irbid District, Jordan.- Labor Use on Farms in Dry-farming Areas of Konya Province, Turkey.- Social and Economic Aspects of Decision. Making Related to Labor Utilization and Choice of Technology: A Case Study of a Turkish Village.- Implications of Technological Change for Labor and Farming in the Karia Ba Mohamed District, Morocco.- Mechanization and Agricultural Employment in Arid and Semiarid Zones of Morocco: The Case of Upper Chaouia.- Agricultural Changes in Private Farms of the Sersou, Algeria.- The Acceptance and Rejection of Agricultural Innovations by Small Farm Operators: A Case Study of a Tunisian Rural Community.- Farm Mechanization and Socioeconomic Changes in Agriculture in a Semiarid Region of Tunisia.