The Role the Economists in Agricultural Research

The question of a research agenda in Agricultural Economics can be approached in different ways. One is to develop a framework board enough to encompass the goals and ethical and value premises within which the valuation criteria and priorities can be developed. Another is just to follow Jacob Viner’s dictum that “Economics is what economists do”. In this paper some of the perceived problems and area of work involved are set out. Given the changing perspective, the emerging issues, the changing directions of research, and the multi-faceted problems that developing countries and the Economists working in such environment are grappling with, the challenge facing Economists is not be bound by rigid rules and archaic procedures, but be alive to the problems that, in the final analysis, impinge on the quality of life of the millions living these countries. One must also be alive to the criticism levelled at Social Scientists of the third world, namely that they work with in a frame work of reference imposed by developed country concepts and models, leading to agendas imposed by outside agencies and thus very often irrelevant to the needs and requirements of the third world.