Agricultural Economist-policy Research
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AGRICULTURAL ECONOMISTS – ROLE IN POLICY RESEARCH K.N. Ravi Kumar Associate Professor (Agricultural Economics) Agricultural College, Mahanandi Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University ‘Agricultural Economist’ is one of the important stakeholders in agricultural development process of the country. Their activities in policy research include generation/refinement of agricultural technologies and their economic evaluation. In the modern era of agriculture, with the participation of the country in World Trade Organization, their role is much widened and they are working in close with association Agricultural Extension Specialists towards the dissemination of agricultural technologies to the farmers. They are also playing a constructive role in strengthening the inter-sectoral linkages by involving all the stakeholders’ viz., Government agencies, NGOs, private sector (seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, machinery companies etc), farmers’ organizations, experts from national and international organizations etc. This facilitates to generate/refine the agricultural technologies suiting to different farming situations and also helps to identify new researchable areas for the future. The research and the policy suggestions that are going to be executed in the future in the identified prioritized areas will drive the economy in the right direction suiting to the global trends. As the capital investments both from public and private sources showed declining trend in the recent period, the role of Agricultural Economists in guiding for efficient utilization of resources both in production and marketing programmes is indispensable. They play a vital role in selecting the best portfolio of research activities through prioritization of researchable issues. The policy guidelines formulated by the Government either at National/State level involves the suggestions offered by the Economists, as they look into the livelihood security, poverty alleviation, employment generation and sustainability perspectives of the farming community.
AGRICULTURAL ECONOMISTS – ROLE IN POLICY RESEARCH K.N. Ravi Kumar* ‘Agricultural Economist’ is one of the important stakeholders in agricultural development process of the country. Their involvement in policy research ranges from developing the technologies to their economic evaluation at the farmers’ level. They also play a central role in refining the agricultural technologies relevant to the different farming situations. The economic evaluation of the technologies and estimation of their technical feasibility at the field level will guide the farmers in adopting them. Their association with other Scientists in collaborative
research
will
lead
to
policy
planning
either
at
National/State level. Their activities in policy research contribute significantly towards the livelihood security of the farmers and to sustain them in the farm business. With the participation of the country in trade liberalization, the role of Agricultural Economists is much widened, so as to make the domestic farmers really dynamic in the competitive world situation. Their approach was also changed towards concentrating on the farmers’ livelihood scenario and to improve upon the same by alleviating the poverty rather than mere evaluation of the generated technologies. This approach has brought down some desirable changes in the economies of developing countries like India, where the policy parameters were mainly planned to alleviate poverty situation in the country. These policies were effective in two ways viz., adoption
of
cost-effective
production
technologies
and
efficient
marketing strategies. Their role was found more crucial now, with the advent
of
modern
technologies
and
increased
foreign
direct
investments in agricultural research. The research findings of the Economists, if found reliable by the donors, will have a strong bearing on the access for the future research projects and this also facilitates
to win their confidence in better execution of the projects. During the fifties and sixties, the contributions of Economists in the country were mainly related to the dissemination of production technologies to the farmers to increase their agricultural production. During seventies and eighties, ie., after realizing the benefits of Green Revolution, their approach was changed towards economic evaluation of generated technologies and their contributions towards achieving food security to the mounting
population. From
early
nineties (in the liberalized
regime), their execution of * : Associate Professor (Agricultural College, Mahanandi, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University
Economics),
Agricultural
research was totally re-oriented and they are playing the central role in executing, evaluating, suggesting and disseminating the costeffective production and marketing technologies. Moreover, they are functioning in collaborative research projects in close association with other Scientists (of different disciplines) such that, policy measures can be suggested for the selected project area as a whole. With the increased
disbursement
of
financial
resources
to
the
farmers-
beneficiaries through financial institutions, their role assumed greater significance in shifting the farming community towards taking up profitable enterprises in the priority areas. Further, their accountability was also increased with the participation in project mode of activities. The various roles executed by the Agricultural Economists in policy research are clearly depicted through figure 1. Planning research design, execution and evaluation Agricultural Economists play a very vital role in execution of the Projects
through
planning
the
proper
research
design.
Their
contribution towards identification and planning of need based research projects is immense. In the modern era, for identification of the projects, the Economists often use research prioritization as an
important tool, as it ensures more resource use efficiency and better economic results (in the prioritized area) to the farming community. In identification of the project area, for execution of the Project, they will play a crucial role towards the justification of socio-economic background of the farmers-beneficiaries. They also contribute towards identification and sharing of ideas and technicalities with other stakeholders in the project area. The discussions with the stakeholders through participatory mode will help to identify and generate new technologies or refine the existing technologies relevant to different farming situations under consideration. The data generated from primary and secondary sources and its analytical presentation will explain the system ‘why it is’ and this paves the path for re-orientation of the system on the desired lines. The evaluation of the existing scenario and formulation of strategies to achieve the desired/likelihood scenario in an identified prioritized area will need the contributions from Agricultural Economists, as economic evaluation of technologies is the most important criterion essential at the farmers-beneficiaries level. Intermediary role between co-scientists and beneficiaries in collaborative research projects
farmers-
With the changes occurring in conducting the research from programme mode to project mode, the role of Economists increased tremendously. In general, collaborative 1. Research prioritiza tion & selection of prioritize d problem
7. Identification of new researchable issues
Improved risk bearing ability
6. Improving 5. Stabilizing livelihood income levels security of the of the farmers farmers
Sustainabili Employmen ty Poverty t perspective alleviation generation s
Farm to AGRICULTURAL Table Manageme ECONOMISTS nt
2. Preparation & execution of research design (Individual/collaborativ e research)
Intermediar y role between 3. Technical 4. codiscussions with & Generation/refinem scientists ent, farmerseconomic stakeholder beneficiaries evaluation & s&
dissemination of stakeholders cost-effective (inter-sectoral
Figure 1 : Roles of Agricultural Economists in policy research
research projects are multi-disciplinary and the Economists have to work with other scientists towards achieving the common goals and objectives. Their role is to validate the research findings of the technological interventions executed by the co-scientific group through economic means and to recommend the same to the farmersbeneficiaries, if found profitable. If not, they suggest the co-scientific group, what the farmers-beneficiaries and other stakeholders actually perceive from the on-going research activities relevant to different farming situations. This intermediary role between the co-scientific group and farmers-beneficiaries/stakeholders indicate their importance in generation and dissemination of technologies, as perceived by the farmers and other grass-root level functionaries. Besides this, they also involve in organization of farmers’ groups for quick knowledge dissemination.
Their
continuous
interactions
with
the
other
stakeholders also benefit the collaborative projects to function very smoothly and timely. Identification of farmers-beneficiaries and other stakeholders For executing the policy research, proper identification of farmers-beneficiaries and other stakeholders, who influence the agricultural development process at the grass-root level is very important. In this context, the Economists will play the critical role. They select the farmers-beneficiaries based on several criteria viz., socio-economic status, age group, gender, farming situations, crops and allied enterprises practiced, progressiveness, managerial abilities, linkages with scientific community, feed back system etc., such that, the policy guidelines generated from the research benefit the farming community on large-scale. Of course, due to spill-in and spill-over effects of the technologies and due to the favourable policy guidelines, the benefits accrue to all sections of the society both directly and indirectly.
Inter-sectoral linkages for policy formulation research Agricultural Economists play a constructive role in strengthening and promoting the inter-sectoral linkages for formulation of sound policy research.
They facilitates the active involvement of all the
stakeholders viz, Government agencies, NGOs, private sector (seeds, fertilizers,
pesticides,
machinery
companies
etc),
farmers’
organizations, experts from national and international organizations etc., towards the generation and dissemination of policy oriented technologies.
They will play a very vital role in bringing all the
stakeholders on a common platform for sharing the ideas and knowledge relating to the policy research. Their approach towards promoting inter-sectoral linkages deserves special attention in the modern era, as agricultural research orientation shifted from supply driven to demand driven. In such demand driven research orientation scenario, the inter-sectoral linkages directly contribute towards the generation and dissemination of technologies very quickly. Here, the role of Economists is very critical in selecting the best portfolio of research activities, selection of resource-poor farmers-beneficiaries for generating reliable information, identification of donors for funding research activities, strengthening research-extension-farmer linkages, efficient utilization of resources etc.
Thus, Economists involves in
driving the agricultural research on the modern lines and suiting to the farmers’ needs. Farm to Table Management There is a growing priority to generate cost-effective production and
marketing
strategies
in
agri-business.
This
implies,
input
management and output management are the important aspects to be dealt with to benefit the farming community. This is especially true, with the participation of the country in World Trade Organization (WTO). Input management, in the sense that, accessing the farming community towards the use of critical inputs in the production
programmes at cost-effectiveness and similarly output management refers
to, guiding
the
farming
community
for
marketing
their
produce/products very efficiently either in domestic or international markets. Here, the role of Economists is very important in guiding the farmers to promote the comparative advantage for their products in the international market. In the WTO regime, the Agricultural Economists are also guiding the farmers to go for scientific postharvest management of the produce. They emphasize particularly on the value addition of produce, as processed products had higher market demand in the international market, particularly in the developed nations. Besides this, food safety mechanism also deserves special attention, as it promotes good reputation for the country in the international market. They also play a major role in disseminating the quality
standards
of
products
among
the
different
market
functionaries. Further they identifies specialized markets for different products and specific quality specifications (product-wise) for each country, such that, more exports can be made from the country. They will also play an important role in resolving the differences in quality standards of various products across the countries, such that, smooth trading relationships exists between the member nations of WTO. Based
on
the
profitability
scenarios
of
various
agricultural
commodities/products both in domestic and international markets, as estimated by the Economists under normal and risky situations, policy guidelines can be drawn by the Government regarding the crop-shift analysis.
This, in turn, lead the agricultural sector for earning due
share in the international market. Dual role Agricultural Economists play dual role in conducting the policy research, one as a ‘researcher’ in generating the technologies (usually in association with other scientists) and the other as an ‘evaluator’ in studying the economic viability, technical feasibility and implications of
generated
technologies
at
the
grass-root
level.
The
economic
evaluation of technologies is very important, as it forms the basis for recommending the policy suggestions to the farmers-beneficiaries. In the
recent
period,
their
role
was
further
extended
towards
dissemination of generated and evaluated technologies to all the stakeholders
in
close
association
with
Agricultural
Extension
specialists. This enabled the Economists to conduct impact assessment studies of the generated technologies and suggest the cost-effective technologies to the farmers. This active sharing of information, ideas and knowledge with the farmers and other stakeholders facilitate congenial
environment
towards
quick
dissemination
of
generated/refined technologies and also helps to identify the new researchable issues for the future. The research and the policy suggestions that are going to be executed in the future in the identified prioritized areas will drive the economy in the right direction suiting to the global trends. Conclusions To conclude, the role of Agricultural Economists in policy research is very vital, as indicated by their contributions in economic evaluation and dissemination of generated/refined technologies to the farmers-beneficiaries. Their role found to be more significant in the modern era of agriculture, as the capital investments both from public and private sources declined in the recent period. This calls for efficient utilization of resources both in production and marketing programmes, where the active role of Agricultural Economists is indispensable. The policy guidelines formulated by the Government either at National/State level involves the suggestions offered by the Economists, as they
look
into the
livelihood
security,
poverty
alleviation, employment generation and sustainability perspectives of the farming community.
AGRICULTURAL ECONOMISTS – ROLE IN POLICY RESEARCH K.N. Ravi Kumar* ‘Agricultural Economist’ is one of the important stakeholders in agricultural development process of the country. Their involvement in policy research ranges from developing the technologies to their economic evaluation at the farmers’ level. They also play a central role in refining the agricultural technologies relevant to the different farming situations. The economic evaluation of the technologies and estimation of their technical feasibility at the field level will guide the farmers in adopting them. Their association with other Scientists in collaborative
research
will
lead
to
policy
planning
either
at
National/State level. Their activities in policy research contribute significantly towards the livelihood security of the farmers and to sustain them in the farm business. With the participation of the country in trade liberalization, the role of Agricultural Economists is much widened, so as to make the domestic farmers really dynamic in the competitive world situation. Their approach was also changed towards concentrating on the farmers’ livelihood scenario and to improve upon the same by alleviating the poverty rather than mere evaluation of the generated technologies. This approach has brought down some desirable changes in the economies of developing countries like India, where the policy parameters were mainly planned to alleviate poverty situation in the country. These policies were effective in two ways viz., adoption
of
cost-effective
production
technologies
and
efficient
marketing strategies. Their role was found more crucial now, with the advent
of
modern
technologies
and
increased
foreign
direct
investments in agricultural research. The research findings of the Economists, if found reliable by the donors, will have a strong bearing on the access for the future research projects and this also facilitates
to win their confidence in better execution of the projects. During the fifties and sixties, the contributions of Economists in the country were mainly related to the dissemination of production technologies to the farmers to increase their agricultural production. During seventies and eighties, ie., after realizing the benefits of Green Revolution, their approach was changed towards economic evaluation of generated technologies and their contributions towards achieving food security to the mounting
population. From
early
nineties (in the liberalized
regime), their execution of * : Associate Professor (Agricultural College, Mahanandi, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University
Economics),
Agricultural
research was totally re-oriented and they are playing the central role in executing, evaluating, suggesting and disseminating the costeffective production and marketing technologies. Moreover, they are functioning in collaborative research projects in close association with other Scientists (of different disciplines) such that, policy measures can be suggested for the selected project area as a whole. With the increased
disbursement
of
financial
resources
to
the
farmers-
beneficiaries through financial institutions, their role assumed greater significance in shifting the farming community towards taking up profitable enterprises in the priority areas. Further, their accountability was also increased with the participation in project mode of activities. The various roles executed by the Agricultural Economists in policy research are clearly depicted through figure 1. Planning research design, execution and evaluation Agricultural Economists play a very vital role in execution of the Projects
through
planning
the
proper
research
design.
Their
contribution towards identification and planning of need based research projects is immense. In the modern era, for identification of the projects, the Economists often use research prioritization as an
important tool, as it ensures more resource use efficiency and better economic results (in the prioritized area) to the farming community. In identification of the project area, for execution of the Project, they will play a crucial role towards the justification of socio-economic background of the farmers-beneficiaries. They also contribute towards identification and sharing of ideas and technicalities with other stakeholders in the project area. The discussions with the stakeholders through participatory mode will help to identify and generate new technologies or refine the existing technologies relevant to different farming situations under consideration. The data generated from primary and secondary sources and its analytical presentation will explain the system ‘why it is’ and this paves the path for re-orientation of the system on the desired lines. The evaluation of the existing scenario and formulation of strategies to achieve the desired/likelihood scenario in an identified prioritized area will need the contributions from Agricultural Economists, as economic evaluation of technologies is the most important criterion essential at the farmers-beneficiaries level. Intermediary role between co-scientists and beneficiaries in collaborative research projects
farmers-
With the changes occurring in conducting the research from programme mode to project mode, the role of Economists increased tremendously. In general, collaborative 1. Research prioritiza tion & selection of prioritize d problem
7. Identification of new researchable issues
Improved risk bearing ability
6. Improving 5. Stabilizing livelihood income levels security of the of the farmers farmers
Sustainabili Employmen ty Poverty t perspective alleviation generation s
Farm to AGRICULTURAL Table Manageme ECONOMISTS nt
2. Preparation & execution of research design (Individual/collaborativ e research)
Intermediar y role between 3. Technical 4. codiscussions with & Generation/refinem scientists ent, farmerseconomic stakeholder beneficiaries evaluation & s&
dissemination of stakeholders cost-effective (inter-sectoral
Figure 1 : Roles of Agricultural Economists in policy research
research projects are multi-disciplinary and the Economists have to work with other scientists towards achieving the common goals and objectives. Their role is to validate the research findings of the technological interventions executed by the co-scientific group through economic means and to recommend the same to the farmersbeneficiaries, if found profitable. If not, they suggest the co-scientific group, what the farmers-beneficiaries and other stakeholders actually perceive from the on-going research activities relevant to different farming situations. This intermediary role between the co-scientific group and farmers-beneficiaries/stakeholders indicate their importance in generation and dissemination of technologies, as perceived by the farmers and other grass-root level functionaries. Besides this, they also involve in organization of farmers’ groups for quick knowledge dissemination.
Their
continuous
interactions
with
the
other
stakeholders also benefit the collaborative projects to function very smoothly and timely. Identification of farmers-beneficiaries and other stakeholders For executing the policy research, proper identification of farmers-beneficiaries and other stakeholders, who influence the agricultural development process at the grass-root level is very important. In this context, the Economists will play the critical role. They select the farmers-beneficiaries based on several criteria viz., socio-economic status, age group, gender, farming situations, crops and allied enterprises practiced, progressiveness, managerial abilities, linkages with scientific community, feed back system etc., such that, the policy guidelines generated from the research benefit the farming community on large-scale. Of course, due to spill-in and spill-over effects of the technologies and due to the favourable policy guidelines, the benefits accrue to all sections of the society both directly and indirectly.
Inter-sectoral linkages for policy formulation research Agricultural Economists play a constructive role in strengthening and promoting the inter-sectoral linkages for formulation of sound policy research.
They facilitates the active involvement of all the
stakeholders viz, Government agencies, NGOs, private sector (seeds, fertilizers,
pesticides,
machinery
companies
etc),
farmers’
organizations, experts from national and international organizations etc., towards the generation and dissemination of policy oriented technologies.
They will play a very vital role in bringing all the
stakeholders on a common platform for sharing the ideas and knowledge relating to the policy research. Their approach towards promoting inter-sectoral linkages deserves special attention in the modern era, as agricultural research orientation shifted from supply driven to demand driven. In such demand driven research orientation scenario, the inter-sectoral linkages directly contribute towards the generation and dissemination of technologies very quickly. Here, the role of Economists is very critical in selecting the best portfolio of research activities, selection of resource-poor farmers-beneficiaries for generating reliable information, identification of donors for funding research activities, strengthening research-extension-farmer linkages, efficient utilization of resources etc.
Thus, Economists involves in
driving the agricultural research on the modern lines and suiting to the farmers’ needs. Farm to Table Management There is a growing priority to generate cost-effective production and
marketing
strategies
in
agri-business.
This
implies,
input
management and output management are the important aspects to be dealt with to benefit the farming community. This is especially true, with the participation of the country in World Trade Organization (WTO). Input management, in the sense that, accessing the farming community towards the use of critical inputs in the production
programmes at cost-effectiveness and similarly output management refers
to, guiding
the
farming
community
for
marketing
their
produce/products very efficiently either in domestic or international markets. Here, the role of Economists is very important in guiding the farmers to promote the comparative advantage for their products in the international market. In the WTO regime, the Agricultural Economists are also guiding the farmers to go for scientific postharvest management of the produce. They emphasize particularly on the value addition of produce, as processed products had higher market demand in the international market, particularly in the developed nations. Besides this, food safety mechanism also deserves special attention, as it promotes good reputation for the country in the international market. They also play a major role in disseminating the quality
standards
of
products
among
the
different
market
functionaries. Further they identifies specialized markets for different products and specific quality specifications (product-wise) for each country, such that, more exports can be made from the country. They will also play an important role in resolving the differences in quality standards of various products across the countries, such that, smooth trading relationships exists between the member nations of WTO. Based
on
the
profitability
scenarios
of
various
agricultural
commodities/products both in domestic and international markets, as estimated by the Economists under normal and risky situations, policy guidelines can be drawn by the Government regarding the crop-shift analysis.
This, in turn, lead the agricultural sector for earning due
share in the international market. Dual role Agricultural Economists play dual role in conducting the policy research, one as a ‘researcher’ in generating the technologies (usually in association with other scientists) and the other as an ‘evaluator’ in studying the economic viability, technical feasibility and implications of
generated
technologies
at
the
grass-root
level.
The
economic
evaluation of technologies is very important, as it forms the basis for recommending the policy suggestions to the farmers-beneficiaries. In the
recent
period,
their
role
was
further
extended
towards
dissemination of generated and evaluated technologies to all the stakeholders
in
close
association
with
Agricultural
Extension
specialists. This enabled the Economists to conduct impact assessment studies of the generated technologies and suggest the cost-effective technologies to the farmers. This active sharing of information, ideas and knowledge with the farmers and other stakeholders facilitate congenial
environment
towards
quick
dissemination
of
generated/refined technologies and also helps to identify the new researchable issues for the future. The research and the policy suggestions that are going to be executed in the future in the identified prioritized areas will drive the economy in the right direction suiting to the global trends. Conclusions To conclude, the role of Agricultural Economists in policy research is very vital, as indicated by their contributions in economic evaluation and dissemination of generated/refined technologies to the farmers-beneficiaries. Their role found to be more significant in the modern era of agriculture, as the capital investments both from public and private sources declined in the recent period. This calls for efficient utilization of resources both in production and marketing programmes, where the active role of Agricultural Economists is indispensable. The policy guidelines formulated by the Government either at National/State level involves the suggestions offered by the Economists, as they
look
into the
livelihood
security,
poverty
alleviation, employment generation and sustainability perspectives of the farming community.
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