Maize Research Improves Farmers Productivity in Africa
October 30, 2009| |
A multi-country study on variety performance and adoption patterns to measure the impacts of maize research in West and Central Africa from 1981 to 2005 reveals that farming communities benefited significantly. Arega Alene from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and colleagues reported in Agricultural Economics that more than one million people per year escaped poverty through the adoption of new maize varieties mainly through productivity gains.
The study on The Economic and Poverty Impacts of Maize Research in West and Central Africa also noted that adoption of modern varieties increased from less than 5% of the maize area in the 1970s to about 60% in 2005. This yielded an aggregate rate of return on research and development (R&D) investment of 43%.
A copy of the abstract is available at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122561950/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Email the lead author at A.Alene@cgiar.org.
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