Economic Functions To Be Expanded

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32360, 28 July 1970, Page 28

Economic Functions To Be Expanded

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, July 27.

The creation of an Economics Division to co-ordinate and expand the economic functions of the Agriculture Department was announced today by the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Carter).

It will be headed by the Assistant Director-General of Agriculture (Mr K. C. Durrant), a former director of the External Economics Division of the Treasury. “The new division will be concerned very largely with the production and overseas marketing of dur agricultural commodities,” Mr Carter said in a statement. “It will comprise four sections, each staffed by specialists drawn mainly from the department’s

existing economics section and the Farm Advisory Division’s farm economics section both of which have functioned along similar lines in their respective branches but less extensively than is intended in the new Economics Division.” The division’s external relations section would deal with international trade and trade negotiations, commodity agreements, external aid, international quality standards, and servicing Department of Agriculture officers stationed overseas. There would be a primary commodities section responsible for reviewing and reporting on production and marketing trends and prospects for agricultural exports, means for improving market prospects for specific products, and policy aspects of producer prices for major agricultural exports. The general analysis section would report on trends in the general economic situation of farmers and the effect of general agricultural policy measures. It would also deal with the returns from farms. The project analysis section would be responsible for cost benefit studies of water supply, river control, and regional development proposals, as well as assisting projec-l tions of farm production fig- 1 ures on a regional and national basis to help the provision of ancillary services.