AGRICULTURAL SECTOR PLANNING; PART II : THE GENERAL SYSTEM SIMULATION APPROACH

Agricultural decision makers and development analysts have turned toward a more comprehensive and systematic view, which has become known as the sector analysis approach. Solving agricultural sector development problems requires a broad system perspective and a generalized analysis. The necessary resources must be made available, the necessary institutional frameworks developed, and the necessary coordination provided to ensure improved decision making and successful results. The basis and approach for improving the quality of decision making discussed in this report are in the context of agricultural sector development planning and policy formulation. The approach discussed is completely generalizable to other sectors of the economy and other aspects of the socioeconomic system. The process leading to models that can play a useful role in agricultural sector decision making are discussed in detail. Ill-conceived models can waste scarce resources and contribute little to the decision-making process. The key is a skilled and experienced model development team institutionalized as part of the decision structure.