Importance of Project Preparation in the Agricultural Planning Process

Abstract

The process of economic development, although not precisely definable, revolves around the concept of increasing production and productivity. In developing countries this process is generally accelerated, at present, by a planning effort that emphasizes careful design of economic policies and conscious investment direction. For this we need a wide range of tools: policies, macroeconomic models, programs and projects. It is the area of ​​programs and projects that links the broad economic objectives, policies and macroeconomic models in a plan with what actually happens to achieve an increase in production and productivity on the farms.

My interest in the importance of project preparation was definitive during my experience working on the agricultural portion of the Third Iranian Plan. One of the weakest aspects of our planning effort was our failure to prepare detailed projects that would make new productivity enhancement programs viable at the beginning of the period covered by the Third Plan. From this experience has grown my firm conviction that much more emphasis needs to be placed on the specifics of programs and projects at the beginning of planning efforts and that agricultural planners need to use project analysis tools more appropriately.