ACIAR agricultural research priority assessment : Co-Ordination

In supporting collaborative research on 'priority agricultural problems of developing countries', ACIAR needs to assess priorities for agricultural research in its partner countries at both international and national levels. To this end, in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Australia's Industries Assistance Commission (IAC), the Centre has developed a theoretical model to assist in the assessment of research priorities. Based on economists' concepts of producer and consumer surplus, the model can be applied to various data sets to indicate the relative economic benefits of research according to commodity and agro-ecological region; the distributive consequences of such research between domestic consumers and producers, as well as between countries; and the significance of research resource allocation decisions from an opportunity perspective. The last allows for an analysis of the implications -- not only of decisions to concentrate research in particular commodity areas, but also of the much-neglected question of whether a piece of research should be done in Australia or overseas.

The greater part of the methodological work on the framework for assessment of research priorities is complete. By 1986, the known methodology had been adapted to allow for factors such as potential research spillovers, differences in research system strengths between countries, and differences in research adoption methods. Preliminary data collection facilitated quantitative analysis for twelve major agricultural commodities.

ACIAR developed and funded Project No. 8607, which began in August 1986, to document the work to date (ACIAR Monograph No. 4) and to adapt the approach to determine at the national level agricultural research priorities in four of its partner countries -- the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The project proposals (listed over the page) that were to be developed and coordinated under Project No. 8607 were delayed initially owing to budget cuts, but significant progress has now been made in all four countries to allow refinement and extension of the analytical results presented in the Monograph. By the end of April 1989, the commodity set for use in the ACIAR information system had been expanded to include twenty-four agricultural and eight forestry commodity groups. Other progress included the addition of eight to ten fish groups. Economists are now investigating how to adapt the information system for use by other institutions.

The objectives of the project for the extension period are to:

. complete the expanded commodity coverage and data refinement for research priority assessment in ACIAR and adapt them for in-house use, in the process preparing a book to provide full details of all aspects of the analysis and use of information, and computer software (with user guide) for producing analytical results;

. complete the coordination of, and participation in, the country-study applications -- this effort will be facilitated by a workshop in mid 1990, with publication of the proceedings; and

. interact, where appropriate, with the impact assessment studies planned for completed ACIAR-funded projects during the period of Project No. 8607.

The research method used in the extension period will be basically similar to that described in ACIAR Monograph No. 4. Details of subsequent refinements and additions appear in the ACIAR/ISNAR Project Paper Series.

This project offers a way of integrating a unique range of objective criteria into the decision-making process when assessing competing claims for research resources. It also provides a way of ranking investment opportunities according to a consistent and comparable set of internal rates of return. The methodologies used will assist in the presentation of convincing economic and scientific rationales that can help persuade policy economists and planners of the need to provide resources to support agricultural research where prospective benefits are significant. The book and computer software/user guide resulting from the extended project will make it easy for other institutions to adopt the system; and comparison of applications in four countries should allow evaluation of different adaptations of the system in different research institutional environments.

This project is a coordination project, and will take place in Australia.