National and international agricultural research and rural poverty: the case of rice research in India and China

Abstract

We measure the total benefits from rice varietal improvement research in China and India, using variety adoption and performance data over the last two decades. Genetic or pedigree information is used to partition the total benefits between these two countries and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Finally, reported elasticities of poverty reduction with respect to agricultural output growth are used to assess the effects of national and international research on poverty reduction in rural India and China. The results indicate that rice varietal improvement research has contributed tremendously to increase in rice production, accounting for 14% to 24% of the total production value over the last two decades in both countries. Rice research has also helped reduce large numbers of rural poor. IRRI played a crucial role in these successes. In 1999, for every US$1 million invested at IRRI, more than 800 and 15,000 rural poor were lifted above the poverty line in China and India, respectively. These poverty reduction effects were even larger in the earlier years. Copyright 2005 International Association of Agricultural Economics.

The impact of agricultural research on productivity and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa

“…In this paper, a simultaneous system of equations model that accounts for endogeneity of key macro-economic variables as well as for long term CGIAR operations was specified and estimated using three-stage least squares. The independent variables were selected based on the theoretical as well as empirical literature (e.g., Fan et al, 1999;Thirtle et al, 2003), conditional on data availability for the countries included in the analysis. Prior correlation analysis also provided some guidance in variable selection for the simultaneous equations model.…”

A Remotely Sensed Global Terrestrial Drought Severity Index

“…From 2000 to 2011, vast areas in this region experienced drought (Fig. 1), which affected large tracts of the main rice-producing areas of Asia (6.7 million hectares during 2000-07; Fan et al 2003;Pandey et al 2007). In South Asia, consecutive droughts during 2000-03 in Pakistan and northwestern India (Fig.…”

Are less-favored environments over-invested? The case of rice research in India

“…However, such equity effects are generally not explicitly considered in resource allocation decisions that focus on the efficiency criterion. 3 The basic finding of the Fan et al (2003) paper that represents a sequel of the previous papers published by IFPRI on this topic has been subjected to some criticism on methodological grounds (Palmer-Jones, 2003). Hazell and Fan (2003), in their response, have defended the robustness of their findings while recognizing the problems associated with data limitations.…”