• UNITED NATIONS ECONOMI C AND SOCIAL COUNCIL ECONOMIC COM~ISSI~~ FUR ~ESJ E~N ASIA FOOD ANO AGRICULTURE OR~Ai'dl.\1 ION ------------------------------------ Semindr on Methods of Agricultural Dat.a Collection 1-4 Oecemb~ r l9a4 B.a1Jhdad Oistr. GHiERAt. E/EC WA/F A0/34/WG.l/7 6 Novemb~ r 1934 ORIGINAl: English Oata Requirements of Agricultural Plannin g Procedures 84-0197 l II. Ill. IV. CONTPHS INTR8DUCT10N ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• NOI\4-QUANTITATIVE PLANNING PROCEDURES ••••••••••• QUANTITATIVE PLANNING PROCEDURES ................. A. The project data analysis and simulation programme (0A5l} •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• B. fhe fU~AGRI model ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• c. Forecasting ffiOd@fs •••••••••••••••••••••••••• CONClUSIONS •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ( i ) 1 l 4 5 7 d 12 - l - £ • I NTROOUC Tl ON PICinning is conceptually the rational utilization of scarce resources for attaning pre-determined development objectives. The plannin g process follows five stages: 1. Description of the economic structures, analysis of the past trends ano identification of main constraints; l· £Jentffication of deve1opment hnes and forrnutation of objec­ tives; 3. Formulation of the effective measures to attain the objec­ tives; 4. Effective implementation; 5. Monitoring ana evaluation. At any of these stages. out mo.-e paf"ticularly the fif'"st two, the quantity ano quality of the available statistical information play a determining ,..of e. The best pi ann in~ proceduf'"e wi 11' rem a in inefficient unless it is supported by valuable data. and the more sophisticated a planning procedu.-e ist the more dependent ana sensitive it is to the qu<Jiity of infor·mation. But. like any econo11ic activity. co11ection of data and production of statistical information operates under resource const.-aints which in turn require optimal utilization. The rati·onaHzat:ion of data col fection and production of statis­ ticc.l infof'"mation staf'"t with a ctecu· definition of the final use,.•s needs. As far as agricultu~al development planning is concerned• the 