5.6.2     Policies
A large number of policies affect agriculture and how AKST is deployed for agricultural and socioeconomic develop­ment in the face of stagnating grain yields, declining water and land availability, new threats and opportunities from WTO, emergence of supermarkets, increasing private sec­tor participation, emerging concerns on food safety and the need for standards in production and processing. Policies influence the ways programs are designed and operated. In particular, policies related to agricultural R&D (IPR, bio-safety), agriculture and allied sectors (livestock, fisheries, etc.), natural resource management, input use (seeds, fer­tilizer, etc.), trade, gender, conservation and utilization of genetic resources, biodiversity, etc., are critical for attaining the sustainability and development goals of AKST in the region and need to be developed and implemented by na­tional governments (and inter-governmental organizations wherever necessary).

     Having a sound policy does not ensure better compliance to guidelines or better performance of the system. Firstly, the countries in the region vary in their capacity to implement policies. There are significant gaps in the capacity of several countries in the ESAP region to implement policies related to biosafety, IPR and food quality standards. For instance, countries intending to implement transgenic and other devel­oping technologies will need to ensure that their infrastruc­ture is sufficient to support the safe development, transfer and application of these technologies with special attention to de­veloping relevant policies, information systems and training in biotechnology risk assessment and biosafety procedures. Methods and results of environmental risk assessments, as well as a model policy framework could be shared between countries that have similar agricultural environments, thus reducing the burden of proof for any one country.
     Secondly, quite often the policy is only prescriptive, without taking into account everything needed to get it