FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q:1. Which are the main funding agencies in India for Agricultural R&D ?
A: a) DARE b) ICAR c) DBT d) DST e) DSIR f) CSIR are some of the funding agencies.
Q:2. Which are the Internatinal Funding agencies ?
A: a) World Bank b) FAO c) Asian Development Bank d) ICRISAT e) USDA etc..
Q:3. How is the funding done in agricultural research in India?
Most funds for agricultural research in India are allocated through block grants,but funding through competitive grants is now gaining acceptance, especially for operating and equipment costs.
Q:4. What is CRF ?
A: CRF stands for Competitive Research Fund. A number of developing countries have established competitive research funds (CRF). This can improve accountability and research performance. By stipulating certain selection criteria, CRF can be used to encourage projects that: address the needs of certain social groups; encourage diversity of research partnerships; and respond to changing priorities and agendas.
Q:5. What is the approximate number of Agricultural scientists in India on the Govt. payroll?
A: India is having the largest number of agricultural scientists on the government payroll in the world — over 30,000.
Q:6. How does India fare in terms of Agricultural productivity in the world ?
A: The country's, agricultural productivity is between 35-50 per cent below the world average.
Q:7. What is the share of India’s Agricultural GDP towards R&D ?
A: India allocates 0.36 per cent of its agriculture GDP to R&D, which is well below the average 0.54 per cent, allocated by developing countries.
Q:8. How China has managed to outstrip India in agriculture when 25 years ago, the two countries were more or less on a par on most parameters?
A: The reasons for China having outperformed India in agriculture are threefold:
a) Technological improvements accruing from research and development,
b) investment in rural infrastructure and
c) an increasingly liberalised agricultural policy.
Q:9. What are the Agriculture Education Institutions in Maharashtra ?
A: There are four Agricultural Universities in Maharashtra offering various degrees upto Ph.D. in agriculture and allied sciences. The work of these four universities in respect of education, research and extension education is coordinated by the Maharashtra Council of Agricultural Education and Research (MCAER) with its head quarters in Pune at 132 – B Bhamburde, Bhosalenagar, Pune - 411007.
Q:10. What is the Research Expenditure Pattern ?
A: In terms of research expenditures, approximately ,37 percent spent by ICAR institutes,51 percent by SAUs, and the remaining 12 percent by private and other public organizations. By comparison, ICAR provide about half the funding, resulting in a net flow of funds from ICAR to SAUs, largely through the AICRPs. A more disaggregated analysis of expenditure patterns by providers of R&E is difficult, as India has no ready means of tracking the allocation of overall expenditures below the institute level.
Q:11. What are the most thrust / demanding areas in Agricultural Research at present in India where we should focus more ?
A:The main areas which should be focused in recent times are:-
- Agricultural Biotechnology
- Agriinformatics
- Post Harvest Technologies
Q:12. What is Agriinformatics ?
-Provide the link
Q:13. What is Agricultural Biotechnology ?
A: Biotechnology has accelerated and as a result, biotechnology has come to indicate the application of a much more sophisticated set of techniques and tools. These tools and techniques, taken from biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, cell biology and chemistry, are used to address a variety of problems.
The last four decades have seen lively developments in Biotechnology and the importance of Biotechnology is comparable to Microelectronics and Computer technology, and in the next century it will probably play a similar role to that of Chemistry in the industrial development of the 20th century.
Q:14. How Public-private partnership is helpful in Agri R&D ?
A: Public-private partnerships, as they are referred to throughout this study, are defined as any collaborative effort between the public and private sectors in which each sector contributes to the planning, resources, and activities needed to accomplish a mutual objective. A relatively new and diverse body of theoretical and empirical literature suggests that public-private partnerships are a constructive means of enhancing the production of goods, services and technologies that would not otherwise be produced by either sector acting alone.
Partnerships can offer private firms access to farmers in emerging markets; the chance to wield constructive influence in the development of legal and regulatory regimes; opportunities to participate in important local, regional, and global forums on pro-poor research; and prospects to improve corporate profiles and reputations. Partnerships can provide public agencies access to new, cutting-edge scientific expertise and knowledge and technologies held by the private sector; mechanisms for developing, marketing and distributing final products; and financial resources that are otherwise increasingly difficult to obtain.
Collectively, public-private partnerships improve the capacity of researchers to address problems in agriculture that cannot be solved by a single actor, cannot be achieved in a manner similar to the relatively rapid, easy gains of the Green Revolution, or require navigation through uncharted, country-specific research systems and regulatory environments.