Improving Productivity: technology acquisition and utilisation

virginia mwai , (2008-05-03 11:41:11)

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The comments are very interesting.I agree with Linus C Gedithat the public sector should provide the enabling environment in terms of policy and ´puplic good´hard and soft infrastructure. public sector should work towards making improvement of technology and productivity attractive to private sector investment and encourage self regulation by the private sector. Both sectors should work towards development of a consumer ´pull´ to drive quality and standards. A value chain approach that brings together all players and beneficiaries would be sustainable.

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Divine Njie , (2008-04-11 19:05:04)

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I agree with Malichi Abasiodiong that for productivity to be enhanced, technological hardware must be accompanied by technological software (knowledge & skills). As far as agro-enterprises are concerned, I would add that applying the right business practises is an essential ingredient as well - and this applies at all stages of the value chain. One other aspect that has not been picked up in the debate is promoting transfer among the developing countries, which, I think, would facilitate the adoption of technologies that are context-suitable (Chido Makunike´s point) and affordable.

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Dr. Malachi Abasiodiong , (2008-04-10 20:43:06)

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Productivity enhancement comes from knowledge and skill application to add value to an existing product or activity eg interms of quality, quantity,time savings etc.Knowledge is power they say.The missing element in enhancing productivity in developing countries especially the very poor ones is approriate practical knowledge and skills.A lot of emphases have been placed on technological hardware without the neccessary technological software (knowledge & skills) to drive it. We need to build the necessary knowledge and capacity base that will drive productivity and when we add the hardware to this will give us the require productivitybe it in production, processing,marketing etc.

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Bourarach El Hassan , (2008-04-09 20:47:35)

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I take the idea of Mr. Steel, one technology is not suitable to all the systems/sizes. It is difficult to generalise cases even if in such global forum we have to think an some common denominators.
All exemples of upgrading agriculture and agro-industry in Morocco showed that the key of success was the political will, available market and after that know how, finance and labor. Everytime the driver factor is money. Where people can erne money and increase there revenu they will improve there practices.
As we are discussing productivity, the solution is the adapted mechanization (for production and transformation)with its different levels and for different situations. The problem as we see it in our countries is again more finance availibility than technology availibility. Second condition of success is the profitability of the equipment under the prevailing conditions.

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Robert Mawanda , (2008-04-07 17:09:01)

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In my country (Uganda), technology interventions (in my opinion) have not really been successful yet. We have this "Plan for Modernization of Agriculture" that was meant to boost productivity of the agricultural sector but todate, there has not been any significant success.

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Peter Steele Agricultural Engineer , (2008-04-04 20:15:37)

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There is no ´one-size/system´ suits all with ´technologies´. If you are milling cereals in the local community in the typical low-income country, people will accept all kinds of poor qualities, lower standards, inadequate technologies, etc. if only to be able to escape the drugery of hand work. This can be a case of ´cheapest is best´. Have *you* ever spent time pounding maize?
If, however, you intend to sell products across the supermarket shelf then you had better ensure that your incoming materials, processing equipment, factory environment and worker skills are the best that you can afford (for the markets available). Here there is need for keeping abreast of the latest most effective technologies that you can provide products that are safe, secure and well-protected.
Peter Steele, Rome. 04 April 2008

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Fredrick Romani , (2008-04-04 13:48:49)

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I agree with the statement:Existing technological base in many developing and LDC´s industries (machineries and skilled manpower) is still far from adequate or outdated. Weak technological structure undermines the ability to invest and take advantage of new market opportunities thereby seriously undermining competitiveness in the sector.But it is important to note that the success of the sector will also depend on private sector participation playing the role in commercial activities.

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David Machin , (2008-04-01 15:35:37)

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Have followed the discussions for some time and agree with most of the points raised however, think that the current situation is very different to what we have experienced in the past. Many of the traditional low tech industries of the past could now be quite viable taking current world markets into account and off course the skills that are needed to develop them are well established locally. At the current time with global warming, need for substrates for biofuels, energy conserving crops etc as well as the need to cover and cultivate marginal and arid soils the value of land considered low grade (including semi arid and arid lands) could have considerable potential value. This leads to the possibility of creating and maintaining standing biomass as carbon sinks and then trading these on carbon trading markets. Clearly this will require government promotion but inc`resingly will require entrepreneurial inputs from both within and without countries but using local resources and technologies.

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Kyaw Myint , (2008-03-31 13:01:36)

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In general, policy makers in developing countries desire to improve and increase productivity to meet requirement of growing population and generate income for producers. If a developing country’s main economic sector is agriculture, improving productivity can support to product quality and increase level of production. Thus, improving productivity is important issue for both public and private sectors in developing countries.

Generally speaking, in a developing country, proven technologies are supplied from public sector however technology know-how, insufficient resource persons and limitation of government budget etc. are faced by researchers band extension services. These negative impacts cannot support to improving productivity. Some developing countries, research and development (R&D) activities, and capacity building mainly rely on donors and international organizations.

The first important issue is that in public sector, the big error of technology achievement is targeted to increase level of production, not considering market demand such as traders, agro-processors, consumers, and exporters. The second most important issue is that proven technologies need to be feasible for farmers, especially resource poor farmers. For this, the following explanation will be clear.

For example, particular new rice (High Yield Variety) variety is recommended for one specific agro-ecological zone and extension workers endeavour to transfer recommended variety and agronomic techniques among farmers.

- At the time of harvesting, yield per unit area of new variety is much better compared to previous variety adopted by many small-scale farmers.

- The main constraints faced by small-scale farmers are that new variety is not more demanded by processing mills (agro-processors) and traders. The reason is that consumers in those areas more prefer old variety due to taste (a little bit hard, not sticky). Moreover, quality of new variety is not demanded by market participants.

- Thus, traders offer low price for new variety and old variety get higher price. The next planting season, most farmers do not interest to grow new rice variety.

- In this case, time and the scare resource of capital invested in research activities are useless. Farmers who accept advice of extension workers suffer from planting of new variety.

- Farmers are more interest to get higher price and more profit margins from their farming. Due to adoption of new variety, gross margin return to farmer is low compared to farmers who do not grow new variety.

- The more yield respond to more production cost such as harvesting cost, fertilizer cost and marketing cost.

- In other words, new technology (new variety) needs to be feasible for farmers. If it is not, new technology such as verity and agronomic techniques are not sustainable.

- At times, policy makers, researchers and extension workers support improving productivity. In practice, their support is burden for farmers.

- Thus, market research, technology achievement needs to be based on market requirements or market demand. Moreover, market –oriented proven technology is important issue for farmers in developing country.

Policy makers in a developing country may consider that improving productivity can support to nation, for example, a particular basic staple food, which can support to self-sufficiency of nation. If policy makers believe that improving productivity can support self-sufficiency for a country, this opinion is not correct and comparative advantage is important issue. From economic point of view, improving productivity needs to support requirement of traders, agro-processors, consumers and exporters.

In addition, the most important thing is that improving productivity need to be in line with market demand.

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Linus C Gedi , (2008-03-27 14:48:50)

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The debate is very interesting and tend to agree with most contributions
that technology acquisation should be the task of both the public(government) and private sector. However the Public sector should create the favourable environment to facilitate the private sector to play its role, i.e. in terms polices,regulations and taxaction. In certain cases were technologies are expensive is imperative that the public sector gets involved directly to insure that the needed tecnologies reach the target producers/processors. I also agree that holostic approaches for the entire chain are best to ensure competiveness at all levels. Capacity building and back up services for the users of the introduced technology should always be considered.

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Muhammad Hariyadi Setiawan , (2008-03-27 09:45:43)

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I agree with 1st Calvin comment and still technology adaptation for the small farmers/processors is one of driver for increasing value for their products. It should be innovative and applied technologies as stated by Chido and Subodh. I believe the public sector (=government)has pivoting roles and has to be having direct roles in technology acquisition as part of their mandates in serving the citizen (farmers). With the extensive structure (and also the bureaucracy) of the government, promotion can reach into the corner of the country. The challenge is to develop partnership between public and private. The private who usually advance in inventing innovative technologies that rarely accessible by the small producers but can be facilitate with the support from the public sector/govt, e.g:support potential partnerships between producers and buyers in implementing new technology as a model for other similar business as well as linking to the technology and know how service providers.

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Mootoosamy POOVATHAL , (2008-03-25 10:27:25)

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I think that the Public Sector should play a first hand´s on approach in the acquisition of technology. Acquisition of Technology is very costly. Schemes for Technology Introduction must be developped.

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Augustine S. Laveleh, Liberia , (2008-03-25 10:21:49)

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This discussion is very important for us in Liberia for the fact that we are currently working on our Food and Agriculture Policy and Strategy document. These are issues that are coming up that need to be addressed by this policy document. The current Government of Liberia has embarked on a three-year poverty reduction strategy after massive destruction of basic fabric of the Liberian economy with agriculture sector being a major source of employment for nearly 70% of economically active population. For the Liberian situation, we are starting all over again with increasing production, adding value for utilization and income generation. But production activities of rural households are characterized by rudimental native tools which are very labor intensive and as such farmers are declining in their production activity. Therefore, there is a need to improve on the current status of production technology by the provision of sustainable improved technology for increasing production; thus increasing demand of primary products for secondary and tertiary processing industries. Few of the challenges outlined in the upcoming document include:

Creating an environment conducive to development that recognizes and outlines the roles of Public and Private sectors in providing agricultural services and input delivery services, in an effective sustainable manner;

Developing guidelines and providing opportunities for substantial private sector investment which can foster sustainable growth in agriculture value chains;

Developing appropriate technologies for upland agriculture farming systems which account for most of the nation’s farms that can increase productivity and economic returns of subsistence farmers;

Transforming the extension system from the transfer of technology model to a pluralistic extension involving Participatory Extension Approaches (PEA) that aim to develop demand driven services;

Rebuilding the national research and development (R&D) system within line with the major paradigm shifts experienced by developing countries in recent decades;

Developing the agro-enterprise system at the household levels to increase production, products quality and value, identify markets to promote income generation and empowerment of producers, particularly rural women etc.

There are many more issues to be addressed but these are few key issues we are considering in our policy document. I would make further contribution based on the feedback received.

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Mootoosamy POOVATHAL , (2008-03-25 10:21:28)

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I agree with the statement. The approach must be a holistic one and more emphasis should be put on the value chain and the distribution of the gains among the partners. We must not persue technology acquisition just for the sake of fashion but for the sake of the farmer to increase production, therefore that technology should be one that is adapted to his needs. Hence policy makers should put more resources towards development instead of plain research and towards dissemination of those applied research to producers.Available information should shared so that producers/farmers can make informed decisions. Farmers should be encouraged to group so that a critical mass is reached for processors to step in. Policy advisors must revisit the whole chain, I believe.

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Dave Harcourt , (2008-03-22 23:43:38)

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I support Calvin´s input which seems not to have been taken up in the discussion.

In my experience we too often put the hardware part of technology first, before we have optimised our existing technology through good process measurement, feedback, training and process management. This can vastly increase production capacity and reduce cost allowing the real market potential and needs to be quantified. This then allows the right buying decisions to be made when acquiring improved technology.

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Calvin Miller , (2008-03-22 13:00:57)

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Both Chido and Subodhkumar note that technology is context spectific and that small farmers should not be pushed into expensive technologies that may not be appropriate. This can be the case even for such proven technologies as hybrid seed, such as in the case of Bolivia when hybrids were imported from Brazil and when used by small farmers could either give an increase of 30% or a decrease of 60% compared to the local varieties because it was not adequately tested under the varied conditions and in times of lack of or excess of rain. Stronger governmental policies would have ensured that such seed was adequately tested in the local settings. I support use of hybrids, but just as tractors should not be be sold if there is not a supportive sale of parts available locally, the role of the government is to ensure the overall health and longer vision issues that the individual farmers are not well placed to know or affect. A particularly important technology on the production side is that of pesticides and other chemicals with their health and environmental risks that are often not known or controls enforced. Governments role should be an honest broker of the public interest, however, with budget shortfalls in the government industries, it is not uncommon to see them peddling donated or subsidized chemicals and tractors which may not be in the best long-term interest of the country.

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Chido Makunike , (2008-03-18 02:13:06)

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Technology that is removed from the context in which it was developed often does not produce anywhere near the same results. THis can be overcome if the necessary modifications are made in the technology itself to make it more applicable to its "non-native" environment, or when other appropriate modifications in how it is used are made. But this is rarely thought of.
Instead technologies are imported and used in poor countries to be used exactly as they were in their countries of origin. Not surprisingly, the results are often dissapointing.
For example, in the case of agro-chemicals, they can actually be a counter-productive, dangerous technology when introduced to an illiterate population without adjustments being made for the inability to read of the people who are supposed to apply them.
Zimbabwe´s government, two weeks before a pivotal election, has just parceled out tractors and other farm equipment in a "mechanization drive" to try to shore up that country´s struggling agriculture. But the country is experiencing chronic fuel shortages which mean tge tractors will not run as long and often as needed. There is hyper-inflation and the country does not have enough foreign currency for its import needs, so service and spare parts for the tractors will be a problem, probably meaning that in a few years many of the tractors will be out of commission. Acquiring the technology at a time and in an environment where conditions work against successful farming is not much help.
It is often assumed that because technology is "good," the more advanced the technology acquired the more "good" ("better") it is, but this can be expensively flawed reasoning, as countless examples of fancy imported but inappropriate technology across the developing world have shown.
The public sector could save itself a lot of money and do a lot more good by promoting the development of local appropriate technology with the input of farmers. Basic questions that should be asked are not only what are the needs we want the technology to ease, but also issues of affordability, repairability in rural settings at affordable prices, ease of operation and so forth.
At many levels, simple appropriate technology would go a much longer way than the fancy "prestigious" technology that is imported at great cost and with much fanfare only to become a white elephant because some small part broke down and is too expensive to import.
Give the farmer appropriate technology and the need to significantly "raise the absorptive power of the farmer" largely goes away. If there is too much "raising" required, that in itself could be a warning bell that the technology in question is inappropriate. Technologies that are too alien from their users in terms of ease or cost of operation/maintenance will be short-lived and unlikely to achieve the hoped for productivity or efficiency gains.
The public sector should create financial and other incentives for the private sector to find it worthwhile to invest in the development of locally-appropriate technology. By definition, "appropriate" would include the element of relative affordability. THis would not only help agriculture, but would have many down-stream benefits on locally-driven industrialization, job-creation and so forth.

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subodhkumar , (2008-03-11 04:46:44)

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It is presumed that Governments (more in Indian context) have available proven technologies to address the local area specific situations. India is a very large country with very large diversity of not only climatic , physical, infrastructure , but also societal norms.
One size does not fit all. An average farmer is not insured for any losses he may suffer by switching over to any new techniques. He is also cash starved to be able to pay for any bought out inputs. Quality of bought farm inputs such as organic fertilizers, pesticides, seeds every thing is often very substandard with the farmer having no means to ensure quality of the inputs for which he may be paying borrowed hard cash. More regulatory quality enforcement agencies are not the answer to Indian conditions. Average size of land holding is also very small. Unless animal husbandry is made an integral part of the agricultural activities of an average Indian farmer there is hardly any chance for making improvements at ground level. Small farmer should be assisted in technologies to develop his own home grown nutritious food, compost, organic pesticides,and biogas energy needs.
Larger cooperative or commercial farm activities can proceed simultaneously and show case the latest modern technological inputs, for a small farmer to make his own decisions about the changes he decides to make in his working.

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Edward Smythe , (2008-03-08 22:38:07)

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Productivity enhancement through the adoption of improved technology is a basic pre-requisite for competitiveness. Howevet how is this technology to be known, accessed and utilised? Is it the role of Governments to promote technology acquisition or is it up to the indivdual enterprise? For farming technology, Governments have the capacity to know, obtain and disseminate new technology as the target ´market´is significant i.e. many producers. For individual plant technologies where this is applicable to only a few, can Governments really justify their involvement? Perhaps, Governments should promote enterpreneurs to visit trade and technology exhibitions...can they do more?

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Calvin Miller , (2008-03-03 14:13:44)

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While I agree that productivity and technologies are important, are we sure that technology aquistition is where one necessarily wants to start? Are not market potential, capacity and one´s access to resources the drivers for determining productivity enhancing technology?

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