The paper presents the view that the scope of agricultural economics should cover the problems of the rural people and the institutions needed to solve their problems. This broader definition of the scope implies that emphasis should be placed on multi-disciplinary activities. It is also argued that training programmes in agricultural economics should be problem-oriented so that the relevance of various concepts can be appreciated by the students. The paper also reviews the role of agricultural economists as teachers, researchers and policy analysts and suggests some measures for performing these roles effectively.