ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: Higher agriculture production leads to reduction in food prices, thus lowering the cost of industrial development.

This was the outcome of a research paper, ‘Research, extension and information: Key inputs in agriculture productivity’, conducted by professor of agriculture economics, University of Connecticut Storrs, Connecticut, USA, Boris E. Bravo-Ureta.

Presenting his research paper at the 18th annual general meeting and conference of Pakistan Society of Development Economists (PSDE) here on Tuesday, the professor said the timely adoption of new technology was important because it often led to reduction in per unit cost of production, thus insuring competitiveness and profitability at least in the short run.

He observed that it is safe to state that agriculture will continue to play a crucial role in the economy of most developing countries, and certainly in Pakistan.

Agriculture not only provides food, employment, internal demand for other domestic products and foreign exchange but also plays a critical function in the alleviation of poverty in low-income countries.

In order to achieve full potential of gains in the productivity needed in developing countries, it is imperative for the public sector not only to design and implement a research strategy that would generate technologies that are usable and appealing to farmers but also provide an environment that is conductive for the private sector to become more actively involved in this effort.

The economist observed there is considerable room for increasing agricultural output without additional conventional inputs and without requiring the introduction of new technologies in Pakistan.

These efficiency gains would raise output and farm profits, as well as improve competitiveness.

Consequently, there is a clear rationale for supporting producers so that they can achieve higher efficiently from the technology already available to them.

The researcher said that mechanisms should be put in place that would facilitate the dissemination of new technologies, from research plots to farmers’ fields, so that the efficient use of new practices can be accomplished in a short time period.

These mechanisms include well articulated extension services, credit availability, input supplies (particularly high quality seeds), output marketing, and market information, among other factors.

The Farm Management Centre (FMC) model, which has been developed and implemented successfully in some European countries, particularly Spain, France, and Denmark, and that more recently has made some inroads in developing countries like Chile and El Salvador, deserves analysis to determine if it is adaptable to Pakistan.

The FMC model has been promoted as a private extension service alternative in respond to the decline in public support for extension services that has been experienced since the mid- 1980s.

The objectives of the FMCs are to increase farm productivity and profits by strengthening entrepreneurial capacity among resource constrained farmers, promoting and facilitating the adoption of environmentally friendly technologies and generating and providing timely market and technical information so that decision making at the farm can be improved.

The lack of access to information about markets, technology, and finance remains a major obstacle to improving productivity and competitiveness for subsistence farmers in developing countries.

To improve the competitiveness of subsistence farmers within global markets, it is necessary to encourage and facilitate their progressive integration into the market economy. For this integration to take place, it is essential that farmers have access to reliable up-to-date information so that they can improve the profitability of traditional products and evaluate the adoption of higher value products and technologies that are compatible with environmental quality.