The previous article outlined the guidelines for resolving conflicts in agricultural policy objectives. Another important area is the pre-conditions for agricultural policy formulations. This article will address the pre-conditions for agricultural policy formulations.
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Pre-conditions for Agricultural Policy Formulations
The formulation of a viable agricultural policy for a country should be preceded by an examination of the structure of the economy, as well as a statement of the main elements of the current economic environment.
The structure of the economy should include such issues as the available sectors, lead sectors, and major sub-sectors, including basic statistics on their operation, activities, and trends.
A listing of the major opportunities (resources and markets) and weaknesses (constraints) of each sector should be highlighted, along with identification of the major limitations and problems confronting the economy.
Basic trends and statistics of the economy, highlighting the more recent historical experiences and political upheavals in the short and long terms, should also include information on the ideology of the country, population and people, environmental and climatic settings, and the level of technological development in agriculture and related sectors.
A more detailed presentation of trends in the performance of the agricultural sector, highlighting existing and potential problems and challenges, should be made.
This information provides the policy-maker with a familiarity of the national economic setting as a background to the formulation of realistic agricultural policies and programmes. The overall aim is to highlight the state and status of agriculture in the context of other economic sectors and problem areas and needs.
There is also the need to provide information on major global economic forces and trends. Major national policies and programmes could be hampered by developments in the international economic environment.
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Consequently, policy-makers, especially in developing countries, should resist the temptation of treating their countries as if they are closed or isolated economies. Developments in any part of the world usually have direct or indirect effects on the rest of the globe.
For instance, the September 11, 2001, terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center in the United States of America led to drastic downturns in the U.S. economy, which affected her trade relations with the rest of the world.
In Nigeria, the consequence of that economic downturn was the drastic reduction in the national budget following drops in oil revenue, as the United States happens to be one of Nigeria’s major trading partners. Relatedly, the U.S.-led attacks on Iraq during the Gulf war under the auspices of the allied forces, following Iraqi annexation of Kuwait, resulted in “Gulf oil windfalls” for Nigeria, because of the international boycott of Iraqi oil.
The implications of all these are that national agricultural policies should be formulated with due cognizance of developments in the international economy and their potential consequences for the domestic agricultural economy.
In this article, the pre-conditions for agricultural policy formulation have been highlighted. These include the basic trends and statistics of the economy, focusing on more recent historical experiences and political upheavals in the short and long terms, which should include information on the ideology of the country, population and people, environmental and climatic settings, and the level of technological development in agriculture and related sectors.
A more detailed presentation of trends in the performance of the agricultural sector, highlighting existing and potential problems and challenges, should also be made. This information provides the policy-maker with a familiarity of the national economic setting as a background to the formulation of realistic agricultural policies and programmes.
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