Fargo, N.D. – Won Koo, professor and director for the Center for Agricultural Policy and Trade Studies, at NDSU delivered a keynote address at the 13th Annual Conference of International African Academy of Business Development in El Jadida, Morocco, May 16. Koo discussed Africa’s economic development strategy under globalized trade environment. His presentation was focused on economic development policy under a dual economic system in which the economy is divided into agricultural and industrial sectors. Koo emphasized that nations in Africa should focus first on the development of the agricultural sector and then the industrial sector on the basis of the nations’ resource endowments. At the conference, Koo received an outstanding research award for his research on economic development and trade.

Saleem Shaik, assistant professor of agribusiness and applied economics at NDSU, presented two abstracts at the North American Productivity Workshop held at Rice University in Houston June 6-9. His presentations were titled “Alternative Panel Stochastic Models to Evaluate the Importance of Farm Programs/Crop Insurance on Efficiency/Productivity” and “Short/Long-run World Agriculture Efficiency (Technical) Measures.”

The North American Productivity Workshop and its companions, European Workshop on Efficiency and Productivity Analysis and Asia-Pacific Productivity Conference bring together academic scholars and practitioners in the field of productivity and efficiency analysis from all over the world. The workshop includes theoretical and empirical papers on productivity, production theory and efficiency measurement in economics, management science, operations research, public administration and related fields. 

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.