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Moderated conference on impact assessment of agricultural research: May 2014

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Tue, 13 May 2014 12:15:55 +0200
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This is S.K.T. Nasar, from Kolkata, India, again (Message 1), with thanks to contributors for underscoring the inbuilt complications in the thematic issue. I wish here to mention the ‘idea of agriculture’ and to categorise the types of investment in agricultural research to straighten some complexity of ex ante impact projection (eaIP) vis-ã-vis ex post impact assessment (epIA).

 

1. The enormity of agriculture encompasses aspects from extraterrestrial photon to sub-molecular nano particle, from intracellular structures to supra-organismic agro-ecosystem, and from farming-related ground operations to all spheres related to local, national and global marketing. To this may be added country-based and international policies and laws. Each of these areas is a subject of research with clearly defined eaIPs. 



EpIA is straightforward and easy to work out if the projected impact is the exclusive consideration. Complications arise when other criteria than the projected impacts are added. Long-term or delayed impacts make the resolution of epIAs further complex.



Emerging research areas with bearing on agriculture such as sustainability, natural resource conservation/restoration, human development index, weather inconsistency, climate change, ingress of unfettered global open market economy, biodiversity, agrodiversity, biopiracy, infringement of patent regime and WTO’s tariff management have gained importance. Long-term epIAs becomes unmanageably multifaceted if these factors are included in the reckoning. 



The only option is to design well-researched eaIPs with defined and time bound goals for calculation of epIAs to be practicable.

 

2. Funding for agricultural research comes from different sources, namely public exchequer, international agency, private sector, corporate house and high net worth individual - either singly or in combination. The government, international instruments and non-government organisation (NGO) are normally the conduit for funding to research organisations and individual researchers. There exists a substantial number of multi-institutional and multi-national agricultural research programmes. The research during execution is competently monitored in most cases. However, very little attention or funding is allocated for epIAs. 



Most epIAs are based on the net present value (NPV) i.e. “the present value of the economic benefits minus the present value of the costs.”  NPV completely ignores the opportunity cost (OC). OC is the value of existing parameter intended to be replaced by the outcome of research intervention. For example, a new crop variety replaces an existing extant variety. The extant variety has been producing certain yield till its replacement by the new variety with a higher yield. The actual gain is new yield minus the old yield. The old yield becomes a constant and calls for calculation of the epIA. Such an omission of the OC in the projected impact is common to both micro- and macro-level eaIPs. In this case, epIAs would be skewed. 



OC must therefore be included in the impact projection without which the real value of epIAs cannot be calculated and the determination of cost-benefit ratio would be less authentic. 

 

3. Expertise for well-defined and statistically valid epIAs is also largely absent. FAO is already aiming at “the establishment of a common framework to update concepts and methodologies for impact assessment of agricultural research” (Background Document for this conference). It must go a step further. It is necessary for UN/FAO and member States to establish independently functioning institutions with expertise in epIAs in the public domain without delay.

 

S.K.T. Nasar

Former Director of Research,

Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya

Kalyani

West Bengal,

India

E-mail: skt.nasar (at) gmail.com



[To contribute to this conference, send your message to [log in to unmask] For further information, see http://www.fao.org/nr/research-extension-systems/res-home/news/detail/en/c/217706/ ].



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