(ii) Involvement of stakeholders. Models for policy support should address real issues
and choices faced by the community or that are of interest to the community. Policy
makers and other stakeholders were included in the process of issue identification as a
precursor to model development. This approach is a marked contrast to the typical
approach of stakeholder involvement, which often includes stakeholders in decisionmaking
only at the last stage of choosing among a specific set of policies that have been
chosen and analyzed by ‘experts’. Stakeholders made a substantive contribution to the
process of defining key agricultural issues and outcomes to be addressed. This makes the
use of AgFutures more relevant and acceptable by the community, and also allows policy
makers to address issues that are of interest to the community. The policies formulated on
the basis of this approach will thus be more socially acceptable.