Dr.Ramesh Chand, Director, NCAP delivered a lecture on "WTO and its implications" on July 7, 2005.

Prof. Yujiro Hayami, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development, Tokyo, Japan delivered a lecture on 'Community State and Market in Economic Development' on June 29, 2004.

Sri. C.S. Satish Chandra, Executive Director, Institute for Rural Studies, Bangalore delivered a lecture on 'Valuation of Agricultural Assets and intensive cultivation of Vanilla' on June 28, 2004.

Dr. Stephen Devadoss, Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Idaho, Moscow, USA delivered a lecture on 'Trade and Environment' on June 9, 2004.

Dr. J.P. Mishra, Assistant Director General, Economics, Statistics and Marketing, ICAR has visited the centre and 'interacted with faculty and students' on May 21, 2004.

Sri. Devendra Sharma delivered a lecture on 'Faculty orientations in food and Agriculture policies in the Globalized era', New Delhi on May 8, 2004.

Prof. Jennifer McKay delivered a lecture on 'Institutional issues in managing water in Australia - Pitfalls and a jurisdictional scorecare nine years ago' in the Centre on January 10, 2004.

Dr. Dhananjaya Arakere, Associate Research Scientist, Texas A & M University gave a lecture on 'Optimal competition in market oriented economics - A comparison of US and Indian Economic Systems' on December 27, 2003.

Dr. Dayanath Jha, National Professor, NCAP, New Delhi gave a lecture on "Major weakness in teaching and research in Agricultural Economics in India" on November 29, 2003.

Dr. J.P. Mittal, National Coordinator (TOE), NATP, New Delhi gave a lecture on 'Energy management in Agriculture' on November 17-18, 2003.

Dr. Mahadeva G. Bhat, Professor, Florida International University, Miami delivered a lecture on 'Valuation of biodiversity' during October 22-23, 2003.

Dr. Shyama V. Ramani, Researcher, INRA, GRENOBLE, France gave a lecture on 'Integration of biotechnology in the food sector and analysis using patent statstics' on August 6, 2003.

Prof. Ronald J. Herning, Comell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA delivered a Lecture on 'Social Political and Economic issues of GMOS' on July 15, 2003.

Dr. Rajagopal Chattopadhyaya, Dept. of Biochemistry, Bose Institute, Calcutta visited the centre and gave a lecture on 'Heart diseases'on March 28, 2003.

Dr. R.P. Singh, IARI, New Delhi visited the centre on January 4, 2003 and Delivered a guest lecture on 'Market avenues for agricultural commodities under globalization and liberalization'.

Mr. Brewsterkneen, Professor of Economics, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai visited the centre and gave a lecture on 'Corporatization of agriculture - A logical convergence of green revolution'on December 25, 2002.

Dr. Joseph J. Schatrik, Chief Operating Officer, Utah mining Ltd and Dr. V.M. Kumaraswamy, Novia Group, USA visited the Department and delivered a guest lecture on 'Waste water recycling' on November 27, 2002.

Dr. S. Janakarajan, Professor of Economics, Madras Institute of Development Studies visited the Centre and gave a lecture on 'Issues related to social science research methodology' on November 27, 2002.

Dr. J.P. Mittal, National Coordinator (TOE), NATP, New Delhi has visited the Centre and gave a lecture on 'Energy Economics' on June 11, 2002.

Dr. Bijan K. Mahapatra, Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, Balanagar College Orrisa visited the department on May 10, 2002 and presented a lecture on 'Indo-US relations of current interests'

Dr. Ramesh Chand, Principal Economist, NCAP, New Delhi gave a lecture on 'Trade liberalization, WTO and Indian agriculture' on May 10, 2002.

Dr Dhananjaya Arekere, Research Associate, Texas A and M University, Texas was invited to conduct a workshop on 'Current consumables in consumer theory and recent productions in producer theory' on March 29, 2002. The workshop was sponsored by Ford Foundation Project, Department of Agricultural Economics, UAS, Bangalore.

Prof. Shivalingappa S Halli, Prof of Demography, University of Manitoba, Canada visited the Department of Agricultural Economics on March 25, 2002. He spoke on 'Dowry problem in India'. Dowry is explained by social, economic and demographical factors. Since 1911, the sex ratio in the marriageable age was in favour of the females till 1950. However, due to infant mortality, maternal mortality and increase in widowers, there was scarcity of girls and their demand went up. The pressure of dowry will reduce from now on as the family size is declining and because there is a fertility transition there will be fewer number of girls, he said. Prof Shivalingappa was in India on an AIDS Prevention Project.

Dr. Brenda Bushell, Professor of English, Musashi University of Technology, Japan gave a talk on 'Environmental Conservation in Japan-From Policy to Commitment' on February 15, 2002. She focused her talk on recycling, which is commonly practiced in Japan. Japan has a mass market for recycled goods. The downside of recycling was that companies in Japan spend a lot on recycling. A large part of Tokyo is filled beyond capacity, she added and there are massive landfill projects. Other major environment problem in Tokyo is tree pollen that is causing allergic reactions. This roots to a loss in number of working days and the extent of monetary loss is 60 billion yen in one year.

Dr. Dhananjay Arakere, Research Associate, TAMU, Texas A and M University, Texas visited the centre during November 23-27, 2001. He conducted a workshop on 'Econometrics Application in NRE' organized by Ford Foundation Project, Department of Agricultural Economics. The purpose of the workshop is to introduce software packages like SPSS and LIMDEP to the students and faculty of the University of Agricultural Sciences.

Dr. Dhananjay Arakere, Research Associate, TAMU, Texas A and M University, Texas visited the centre and gave a presentation on 'LIMDEP in CVM' on August 3, 2001. In his lecture he pointed out that prices do not, always, reflect the value people attach to it. They are not actual indicators of true value of a commodity, as several other issues influence the market. CVM helps economists to value resources that have no market price. Though, CVM is used to capture the issues determining the value of a commodity it is a close proxy for the true value. The respondents need to be educated on the contingent commodity. To value clean air, data regarding the respondent’s age, income and so on are gathered. CVM should first be conducted on a Focus group. Pre-testing is done before actual data collection to identify the lower and upper bound values of WTP. Survey if one is willing to pay a certain amount. If you ask closed-ended question, the lower bound cannot be estimated. He suggested that dichotomous follow up questions be asked to get closer to the value.

Dr. Conroy from Greenwich University, United Kingdom spoke on 'Issues related to Common Property Rights' on May 4, 2001. Dr. Conroy lectured on Community Forest Management in Orissa. The objective of CFM is to manage forests on their own (community) and not depend on the Government. The study focused on issues raised by people, their problems and difficulties, solutions and the results of these efforts. Dr. Conroy also mentioned the fieldwork taken up by him in Anantpur and Udaipur districts to study changing situations in people’s life and how they coped with drought conditions. Since 1970, 10000-15000 villagers in Orissa were involved in the Community Forest Management Programme, (CFM). As the Forest Department had modest resource base to manage communities have begun to protect forests. CFM consists of small group of villagers, from two or three hamlets, with their own norms and codes for protection.

Dr. Dhananjay Arakere, Research Associate, TAMU, Texas A and M University, Texas spoke on 'Emerging trends in Natural Resource Economics' on March 29, 2001. Dr. Arekere highlighted that the three main emerging trends in Natural Resource Economics are: (i) Industrial Organization - deals with how organizations behave, how do structural changes take place. It also enables us to test whether there is market power/monopoly and if the price deviates from marginal cost etc., (ii) Environmental Equity or Sustainable Development, (iii) International Trade or Globalization.

Sri. G.V. Sundar, Chartered Accounted visited the centre and initiated a discussion on 'Union Budget 2001' on March 9, 2001.Sri. Sundar examined the budget in relation to the various budgets presented over the last ten years. One underlying and common feature in the budgets presented over the years by different political parties has been liberalization. That the 2001 Budget has also continued with reforms is evident - trade barriers have further been broken down by removal of licenses and Quota Raj, various taxes have been reduced, interest on prime lending has been brought down, private investment is being encouraged and inflation is low compared to the 80’s.
But certain sectors have been grossly neglected like Agriculture, Education, Health and the Social sectors. There are other negative aspects to the Budget - no reformation in the service sectors, no privatization or development, no labor related laws, no effort been made to bring down either the Fiscal Deficit or the Unplanned Expenditure.

Dr. Ian Scoones, Fellow, Environment Group, Institute of Development studies, Sussex, UK initiated a discussion on 'Science, Technology and Policy Debate with special focus on bio-technology in the context of a developing country' on February 28, 2001. Dr. Scoones raised various pertinent and topical questions on the connection between Science and Policymaking. He clarified that a number of questions need to be asked about policies and regulation, which is a challenge for biotechnology. The two main focuses under Science studies are Technology Assessment and Risk Assessment where the former deals with questions like where and how does technology fit and the latter questions the risks associated with the use of this technology. New themes need to be dealt with while discussing agricultural biotechnology like the range of scientific uncertainties about environment and health risks and on Agricultural systems. Many other players and multiple factors-including individual, commercial, international, legal frameworks, NGO’s, farmer groups, CBD etc, are involved. Scientists are forced into regulatory arena like advisory committees, task forces, evolution of sui generis systems etc.

Dr. N.S.Viswanath, Principal, Bhavan's Institute of Management Studies, Bangalore gave a lecture on 'Structure, Conduct and Performance Digression With Special Reference to Agricultural Marketing in India' at the Dept. of Agricultural Economics, UAS, Bangalore on July 25, 2000

Sri. Satish Chandra, Executive Director, Institute for Rural Studies, Bangalore delivered a talk on 'Valuation of Natural Resources with respect to Agriculture' on July 5, 2000 at the Department of Agricultural Economics, UAS, Bangalore. He elaborated on the methodology he adopts to conduct valuation of an area/ region. The value of the land was estimated as a function of the crops grown there, the proximity of the land to highways and such related variables. Further, it is affected by the next best alternative activity that is possible on the land. The speaker to illustrate the point with clarity used a practical example.

Smt. Meera Chakravarthy, Professor of Sanskrit, Bangalore University gave a guest lecture on 'Environmental Concerns in Ancient Indian Context' on the occasion of World Environment Day on June 5, 2000 at UAS, GKVK, Bangalore.While delivering a lecture Smt. Meera Chakravarthy elaborated on the basic tenet held in the Upanishads that all matter (manifested form) should be respected since all are composed of the five elements of Fire, Earth, Water, Air and Space. This would foster responsibility and make it is natural that we establish positive relationship between nature and humans. Stressing on the need to consider natural resources in an anthropocentric manner and not as a means of commercial gain, she highlighted the various institutions that were evolved to ensure that defilement of nature did not occur. Hence, treatises viz., Kautilya’s ‘Arthashastra’ lays down strict rules for planting and nurturing crops; norms to ensure harvesting and optimal use of resources viz., water, forests were enunciated.

Dr. H. Desarda, Ex-Member, Maharastra State Planning Board visited the Centre on December 24, 1999 and gave a talk entitled "Demystification of Development". He highlighted issues of negative externalities that have arisen in the growth process. He further elaborated that the need of the hour is to emphasize on :

• A-Alternative, Afforestation, Austerity
• B-Basics (values and visions), Biocentrism, Backyard
• C-Avoid Centralization, Consumeri-zation and Criminalization
• D-Demystification of development, Democratisation of Information, Decentralization
• E-Harmonize Ecology, Environment and Economics

Mr. Brian McHattie M.S. student, School of Rural Planning and Development, University of Guelph; C/o 7 Rialto Court, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L9C 5T5 visited the Centre on December 3, 1999 and gave a talk on 'Ecological Restoration in United States-Canada Great Lakes Basin : The Remedial Action Plan Programme Example' for the Friday Group Meeting. The talk focused on Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement signed between United States and Canada. The water quality agreement was one of the first documents to specify that an ecosystem approach must be taken dealing with air, water and land issues on a watershed basis with full participation of partners from Government citizens, non-government organisations, politicians, scientists and others.

Watershed approach to Hamilton Harbour brought in a whole new group of issues that included restoration of forests and streams convincing land owners to protect existing natural lands and solving environmental problems associated with agriculture. The above points emphasized the need for watershed approach for environmental and ecological restoration of natural resource conservation.