The importance of adequate supplies of trained manpower, both in terms of numbers and of quality, for agricultural development in Africa goes without saying. Yet it cannot be assumed that the necessary trained and experienced personnel will automatically be available when required. Steps to ensure the supply must be an integral part of every agricultural development plan.

The present report is a descriptive analysis of the agricultural price and trade policies followed by the Venezuelan Government in recent years, its basic objective is to provide a fuller understanding of present agricultural policy with the hope this will permit a clearer view of the type of policy to expect in the future. An attempt is made to show the influence of petroleum upon agriculture as the most important source of revenues which has largely contributed to the improvement of the agricultural sector. This paper will first offer a brief synopsis of the present economic situation. It will then consider the agricultural price and trade policies in the period prior to 1950. In considerable more detail it will then focus on the price and trade policies of the past twenty years, showing also the consequences of these policies with special emphasis on two important domestic products: Rice and Milk. Finally, this report will include certain observations about the policies that the Venezuelan Government is expected to follow in the years ahead.

This report continues the recent series of publications that the Agricultural Economics Research Unit has brought out on the implications of the 1964 Agricultural Development Conference. Livestock targets were drawn up by the conference as an indication of the likely growth of the New Zealand Agricultural Industry by 1972. Trends in livestock numbers were first estimated by the Department of Agriculture in 1963, when it became clear that a faster rate of expansion would be necessary. These new levels of livestock numbers required in 1972 became the national livestock targets. To obtain greater information on this aspect of the targets, the survey reported here which was initiated during 1967 had resulted in to examine the livestock targets in the context of all hill country farms in North Canterbury.