Appendix – 1
Agriculture: According to the Model Act for Agricultural Universities in India, as revised in 1994, the definition of agriculture is: “Agriculture” includes the basic and applied sciences of: a) Soil and Water Management; b) Crop Improvement and Production; c) Horticulture: Fruits, Vegetables, Floriculture, Spices and Medicinal Plants; d) Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Dairy Science, and Animal Products Technology; e) Fisheries; f) Forestry, Farm Forestry, Forest Management and Silviculture; g) Agricultural Engineering and Technology; h) Post-Harvest Technology including Processing and Marketing; i) Land Use Planning and Management; j) Sericulture including Mulberry Culture; k) Apiculture; l) Home Science; m) Basic Sciences and Humanities in relation to Agriculture; and n) Subjects pertaining to Agricultural Technology and Rural Development.
A farming system is defined as the population of individual farm units that have broadly similar, resource bases, enterprise patterns, household livelihoods and constraints, and for which similar development strategies and interventions would be appropriate. Usually a few types of farming systems are dominant in an agro-climatic zone, examples of farming system include: rainfed farming systems, irrigated farming systems, rice farming, etc. The Farming Systems Approach (FSA) considers biophysical dimensions and socio-economic aspects at the level of the farm where most production and consumption decisions are taking place. Farming system, tend to be influenced by external variables such as policies, institutions, markets, public goods, and information availability.
A Production to Consumption System (PCS) is the entire set of actors, materials, activities, services, and institutions involved in growing and harvesting a particular commodity, transforming it into higher value product(s) and marketing the final product. The system includes the technologies used to grow and process the material, as well as the social, institutional and economic environment in which these processes operate.
Value Chains are chains that incorporate all activities and services that are undertaken along a commodity system from the primary producer to the final consumer. As products move from one stage to another, additional value is created. A typical chain would include producers, assemblers/ traders, processors, distributors, retailers, and finally consumers. Producers utilize inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, chemicals, and implements to produce raw materials. Traders or assemblers purchase these raw materials in bulk and transfer them to the processors. Processors or manufacturers convert the raw material into products that the consumers want to buy. From there, the goods go to the distributors. Distributors are typically wholesalers who pass the goods on to the retailers and eventually to consumers. Distributors can also have direct linkages with restaurants and hotels to which they sell the products directly.
Conceptually the value chain concept differs from PCS, in the sense that the former carries with it a managerial connotation, relating to a group of economic players coordinating together to minimize the transaction costs and to increase the efficiency in production, processing and marketing of a specific commodity. When two or more of these players are under a single management, the chain becomes “vertically integrated”. Moreover, the value chain concept more explicitly recognizes the marketing and transaction processes, where additional value is being created.
In NAIP, it is expected that the PCS concept will be applied following a coordinated, though not necessarily, integrated value chain approach.