Technical feasibility

Technical feasibility is one of the first studies that must be conducted after a project has been identified. In large engineering projects consulting agencies that have large staffs of engineers and technicians conduct technical studies dealing with the projects. In individual agricultural projects financed by local agricultural credit corporations, the technical staff composed of specialized agricultural engineers, irrigation and construction engineers, and other technicians are responsible for conducting such feasibility studies.The fields of the technical study can be determined as follows:-

Method of Production

The selection among a number of methods to produce the same commodity should be undertaken first. Factors that make one method being preferred to other method in agricultural projects are the following:-

• Availability of inputs or raw materials and their quality and prices.
• Availability of markets for outputs of each method and the expected prices for these outputs.
• Various efficiency factors such as the expected increase in one additional unit of fertilizer or productivity of a specified crop per one dunum.

Production Technique

After we determine the appropriate method of production of a commodity, it is necessary to look for the optimal technique to produce this commodity.

Project Requirements

Once the method of production and its technique are determined, technical people have to determine the projects' requirements during the investment and operating periods. These include:-

• Determination of tools and equipment needed for the project such as drinkers and feeders or pumps or pipes …etc.
• Determination of projects' requirements of constructions such as buildings, storage, and roads …etc. in addition to internal designs for these requirements.
• Determination of projects' requirements of skilled and unskilled labor and managerial and financial labor.
• Determination of construction period concerning the costs of designs and consultations and the costs of constructions and other tools.
• Determination of minimum storage of inputs, cash money to cope with operating and contingency costs.

Project Location

The most important factors that determine the selection of project location are the following:

• Availability of land (proper acreage and reasonable costs).
• The impact of the project on the environment and the approval of the concerned institutions for license.
• The costs of transporting inputs and outputs to the project's location (i.e., the distance from the markets).
• Availability of various services related to the project such as availability of extension services or veterinary or water or electricity or good roads …etc.

Bibliography

• Blecke, Curtis. Financial Analysis for Decision making. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: prentice-Hall, 1966.
• Caiden, Naomi, and Aaron Wildovsky. planning and Budgeting in Poor Countries. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1974.
• Pouliquen, Louis Y. Risk Analysis in Project Appraisal. World Bank Staff Occasional Papers, no. 11. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1970.

Pavan Satish Maind