M.A.F. economist seeks wider project evaluation experience

Press, 24 July 1987, Page 12

M.A.F. economist seeks wider project evaluation experience

Two years economic consultancy for the Kingdom of Tonga will be a very worthwhile experience for Mr Stewart Hadfield, a senior economist, before his return to the new-look, revenue-earning economic consultancy unit of MAFCorp. Before he left for Tonga recently Mr Hadfield said he expected to be working on a wide variety of projects, including transport, communications, construction, housing, energy and water. Only the last two of these fields have concerned the primarily agricultural economist until now.

The economic consultancy unit is raising its public profile in response to instructions to generate more outside funding, said Mr Hadfield. It has been renamed from the Economics Division Resource Unit and now comes under the MAFCorp division.

In the past the unit, split between Christchurch, Wellington and Palmerston North, has concentrated on evaluat-

ing projects which have a Government subsidy component, such as irrigation and rural water supply schemes, flood control and soil conservation schemes.

Now it will be seeking a much wider range of work and will even tender against private economic consultants for projects. The unit has shrunk from over 30 staff, working on a similar number of projects each year, to TO staff members now as large-scale irrigation pro; jects in particular have come to a stand-still.

Irrigation was formerly the responsibility of the Christchurch office under Mr Hadfield and the unit worked on the Glenmark, Balmoral, Earnscleugh and other central Otago schemes. Palmerston North tended to concentrate on the flood and soil projects.

The whole consultancy unit now has seven fulltime economists, one in Wellington, and three each in Palmerston North and Christchurch. But Christchurch will be

one down for the next two years as Stewart and his wife, Sally, a doctor, live and work in Nuku’alofa, Tongatapu. “It is a great opportunity to broaden my range of economic work,” said Mr Hadfield, “and the skills will be very helpful when I return to the M.A.F. in two years.

“I have seen big changes in the M.A.F. in the last two years and I expect many more while I am away.”

Mr Hadfield joined the M.A.F. in 1971 and graduated M.Ag.Sc. in farm management and economics from Lincoln College in 1977.