ological, physical, or chemical threat from less developed countries. The developed countries invest large amounts of private and public funds to develop new technologies (nanotechnology and biotechnology) to reduce this threat. In most of the less developed countries of LAC, due to the fact that many basic needs are not met and education levels are generally low, development of science is limited. These countries as a rule do not place value in traditional knowledge as a source of agricultural innovation.

3.4.2.1.2 AKST systems
In the few LAC countries that have the capacity for technological innovation, efforts and resources are channeled to biosafety. The larger countries, many of which are members of economic blocs, establish health barriers to food imports, but without repercussions on the focus of AKST. In view of the scarcity of economic resources in the region, R&D is mostly directed to ensuring food supplies and economic efficiency. The sustainability of products and processes and their environmental impact are not given priority by the public or private sector.
     The capacity of the different LAC countries to incorporate advances in formal knowledge into agriculture varies. Some, such as Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, even apply their advances in biotechnology and nanotechnology to agribusiness, while others are limited to adapting or importing technology. The few countries with the capacity to generate technologies do not incorporate traditional knowledge.

There is also a loss of personnel and management capacity in public R&D. Personnel migrates to other jobs either abroad or with transnationals. Public R&D institutions have difficulties in establishing policy lines, defining priorities, and especially coordinating the whole research effort. By the end of this period, there is a wide gap between the
scientific and technological capacity of the LAC countries and that of the developed countries such as Japan, Germany, and the United States. Some countries in the region begin to import technology from the developed countries, to meet needs in some areas regarded as strategic. Because of a shortage of financial resources, most governments in the region reduce public investment in education, and in science and technology. There are financial resources to use for international support in solving problems, mainly related to biological security. The protocols, patents, and genes generated in these projects are the property of the donor organizations.
     Throughout LAC, public R&D institutions give way to transnational companies. In some countries, they still perform the function of generating knowledge and technology in areas relevant to production, that private research institutions are not interested in. For instance, in the genetic improvement of corn, they develop pre-technological products, i.e., intermediate products in the crop development process, as an input for processing the final technological products (Castro et al, 2006). Public AKST organizations also take on the basic research that the private sector is not interested in doing.
     Due to these many limitations, public R&D institutions are unable to develop technological products adapted to the demands of their customers and users, whether private transnational or national organizations. The most vulner

vulnerable social groups are not given any consideration at all in generating technologies.

3.4.2.1.3 Agricultural production systems
The lack of investment in education, the reduction in resources for agriculture, and the lack of openness of borders and markets lead to a situation that discourages incorporation of know-how into agriculture. Fragmented knowledge on use of inputs and machinery is incorporated on a limited scale, and only among the partners of enterprises, for the purpose of improving the productivity of production systems. Exporting firms and quality standard certification companies also require implementation and verification of a series of practices to meet market requirements, and the partners of the enterprises (medium-sized and small-scale producers) find
themselves forced to incorporate complex know-how associated with these product and process standards.
     Trade barriers limit agricultural markets for LAC countries. Few countries export commodities to countries with greater purchasing power, because the costs of product certification, as a prevention against any biological threat, are high. A small number of countries and organizations has an opportunity to participate in “Latin-American” or “Amazon” markets, which also demand safety guarantees for the products offered. By the end of this period, a very small specialized market begins to open up for products of traditional production systems.
     The internal LAC market has two segments: (1) the segment of high-income consumers, which is constantly shrinking in size, due to the poor economic performance of countries, but which requires goods similar to those of consumers in more developed countries; and, (2) the segment of poor consumers, which is an expanding segment for which the most important factor is price. A considerable number of countries have only the segment of poorer consumers for its goods, and relies increasingly on imports (agricultural imports in general, but especially foodstuffs), to feed its people.
     External markets, the high-income market, and part of the poor domestic market are supplied with products from large, technified production systems. The niche markets are supplied by small production systems that nonetheless have a high degree of biosecurity technology incorporated into
them.
The poorest domestic markets are supplied by production systems with little technology incorporated, with no links to production chains, and with little concern for biosecurity. This means that a large part of the people in these countries consumes food of poor bromatological quality.
     The stakeholders in the production systems are not generally organized into stable associations, and this leads to a diminished resource management capacity, a weak position on agricultural markets, and poor performance by production units.
     In the more developed countries of the region, the economic losses of the more vulnerable production systems are offset by aid policies or by an insurance mechanism. As a rule, however, the most vulnerable systems—which the large agricultural corporations of some countries are not part of—do not have financial resources to protect themselves from risks related to epidemics or the impact of climate