The importance of the initiative was clearly realised by the Indian government. The Prime Minister (PM) of the country, Mr. Manmohan Singh, inaugurated the opening ceremony. In the words of Jamuna Prasad Yadav the driver who took me to the airport from hotel the Indian PM is "a gentleman sir, an economics man sir, an educated man, sir". A man of Yadavs' heart, Mr. Manmohan Singh a reiterated his government's commitment to keep agriculture moving. He lauded the role of IFPRI in the pursuits of poverty reduction through policy analysis. However, the PM also threw a disconcerting note on the distortionary policies prompted by the pressure groups from farm management. Chaired by the famous economist Ishur Ahluwalia, the inaugural function was also addressed by Joachim von Braun (DG of IFPRI) and Ashok Gulati (Division chief of IFPRI).

Economics and non-economics
Joachim von Braun spoke on the role of IFPRI in South Asia (SA), the Millennium Development Goals and the untapped market opportunities. "Trade liberalisation has the potential to offer tremendous opportunities for SA by opening up lucrative new markets, generating foreign exchange, and stimulating the agricultural sector that provides the majority of world's poor people with their livelihoods. Regrettably, however, international markets remain heavily protected, and developed country markets heavily subsidized. Reducing poverty cannot be accomplished until we assure a fair trade…" He further suggests that the objective of coping with impacts of globalisation per se should not be the perennial issue to ponder with, rather, developing countries should vie for a vocal participation in the process of shaping globalization to the needs of the poor. And finally, he draws attention to the non-economic factors endangering the objectives of equity and poverty status: "Promoting transparency and accountability, competent public administration, and the rule of law must be at the forefront of development policies".

Ploughs and plates
Montek Ahluwalia, an eminent economist of India and now leading Indian Planning Commission, presided over a technical session. A team of IFPRI researchers led by Ashok Gulati provided empirical evidences on the changing agricultural practices, food consumption and marketing chains in this part of the world. As observed, grains and other staple foods have been on a wane both from ploughs and plates. But, at the same time, there has been rise in the importance of high value crops e.g. fruits, vegetables, milk, egg, meat etc.- to farmers. The shift from rice to rich food imposed a change in the retail marketing networks. Rise of super markets and expanded exports of vegetables tended to impart both opportunities and challenges for small farmers in SA. Behind the development, rapid urbanisation and rise in per capita GDP played the major role. In the changing scenario, the government's role should not be less than what it was for the green revolution. The ensuing revolution should be backed up by a panoply of policies (not promises alone!) including provisions for credit to small farmers, infrastructure such as roads, electricity and storage facilities, and devising new institutional mechanism so that production of perishable products are propelled.

Smart small !
PK Joshi and others presented a paper on Indian context. In India, contribution of cereals, pulses and oilseeds to agricultural growth dwindled over the decade(s) -- from 55 per cent in 1980s to 49 percent in 1990s. During the same period of time, the contribution of fruits and vegetables increased from 24 per cent to 32 per cent. The authors further observed that the daily net profit of HVA crops was much larger than traditional food crops and thus pointing to potential investment in those crops by the small holders. In fact, small holders perform better than larger ones and the income of contract growers appear to be more than that of non-contract growers. The constraints to the expansion of acreage under these crops are, for example, high transaction costs and high risks. The government, I suppose, has a vital role to play in pushing farmers to these perishable products through an arsenal of investment in research, technology and institutional development.

On line and length
Major General Amjad Khan (Rtd) is an agro-processing entrepreneur of Bangladesh with enviable reputation. A practical friend as he is to poverty-ridden farmers, he saw the activity of processing of agricultural products as the pinnacle of poverty reduction strategy. Neither farmers nor consumers can add substantial value to agro products but the processors duly do it. He lamented over the lukewarm attitude of the governments and a lack of inertia in them in lining up farms to forks. Admittedly, the growth of such enterprises with so much high domestic value addition demands a paradigm shift in policies. Another participant, from Bangladesh Dr Shawkat Ali, raised some important conceptual issues that need to be threshed out before embarking on HVA.

The observations from Pakistan side by Drs Sartaz Aziz, M. Qureshi and Sohail Malik were pertinent for policy analysis. We could learn that despite a higher rate of growth in agriculture, Pakistan witnessed a rise in poverty level , possibly, during the last decade and hence agricultural growth and poverty nexus should be cautiously established. They further suggested a bottom up approach to prioritisation of IFPRI researches where discussions and dialogues in each country could recommend a list of such issues.

Professor Vyas of India described how agriculture in India now-a-days is dominated by the poor farms. The same happens in Bangladesh. So, a pro-agricultural growth strategy turns out to be a pro-poor one.

Government investment
It appears then that agriculture in SA had been undergoing a silent revolution. More market oriented, export driven, knowledge intensive. Unlike the green revolution when small farmers were hesitant initially to take up, small farmers of SA are growingly grooming HVA in their green fields. Of course, beneath the surface, the green revolution paved the ways through increasing land productivity and that should continue to happen. The government should come up heavily with more investments in research, extension and infrastructure developments for the newly emerging crops so that small holders can tide over the wave of globalisation.

Farmers are not fools!
Mr. Chenglala Reddy is the Honorary Chairman of the Federation of Farmers' Association in Andhra Pradesh. He came to attend the session. The 'sweet' and 'substantial' submissions by the great economists and policy framers could hardly quench his thirst. Finding no floor, he was up on his toes to tell the audience the "tales of the tillers." Yes, India is progressing well with agriculture but, growingly, farmers have been committing suicide in large numbers. How long your research will last sir(s)? We want clear guidelines from you. We, the farmers, are responsive to markets, technology and modern inputs. You advise us not to use pesticides for side effects but you gentlemen swallow antibiotics knowing fully well that they have side effects too. We want more outputs even at some costs. Finally, don't think farmers are fools. Now a days they can change chief ministers and the recent elections are a point towards that".

Feel the pulse
The structural changes in agriculture within the country, the wave of globalisation and the struggle for self-sufficiency in rice paved ways for a paradigm shift in policies. Old perceptions should die, emerging patterns should be prized with appropriate policies to seize upon the opportunities looming large on the horizon. We survive only when the 'smalls' survive.

Abdul Bayes is a Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University