Guide to Program Planning and Priority Setting

Collion, Marie-Hélène, Kissi, Ali. 1995. Guide to Program Planning and Priority Setting. International Service for National Agricultural Research

The objective of this guide is to provide agricultural research managers with an approach to program planrting and priority setting that will enable them to plan better research programs that are more relevant to users' needs and that make the best use of limited resources. The different steps of the approach are illustrated with a real-life example, that of a program-planrting and priority-setting exercise carried out at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Morocco. With the help of this guide, research managers should be able to apply the approach themselves. In this guide, the word program designates a coherent grouping of research activities, all relating to a specific field: this could be a commodity or a group of commodities (e.g., the Rice Program or the Cereals Program), an agroecological zone (e.g., the Arid Zone Program or the Highlands Program), a production system (e.g., intensive animal husbandry), or a production factor (e.g., the Agricultural Mechanization Program or the Natural Resource Management Program). The purpose of the approach is to turn research into an engine for agri-cultural development. National development objectives and the constraints faced by users are the twin starting points of any research planning process. These constraints should be carefully analyzed, so that the right technologies—ones that producers will be both willing and able to adopt—can be identified and/ or developed. The evaluation of existing research results is a further important ingredient in the planning process. Future activities can only be based on currently available results, and national research must derive maximum benefits from the knowledge and technology developed elsewhere. These three factors must underpin all research objectives and projects.