This paper presents an ex ante analysis of the private and social profitability of the introduction of Bt cotton for a major cotton producing area of northern Mozambique. Cotton is especially relevant to rural poverty reduction because smallholders often have few alternative cash earning...

Institute of Agricultural Research of Mozambique Directorate of Training, Documentation, and Technology Transfer

Public research in developing countries in Asia continues to grow, but in many countries the rate of change has slowed and it is lower than growth in agriculture. In Asia, private sector research grew twice as fast as public research (see Table 1). Using a new set of data on private research,...

This paper reviews the "vent-for-surplus" model of agricultural development, in which access to foreign markets allows "surplus productive capacity" to be exploited. The "indirect effects" of trade contribute to long-term economic growth even after the direct gains from trade are realized. How...

We assess long-run patterns of global agricultural productivity growth in developing countries between 1970 and 2005 and examine the relationship between investments in technology capital and productivity. To measure agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) we employ a Solow-type growth...

Agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains low and is falling farther behind other regions of the world. Although agricultural output growth in the region has accelerated since the 1990s, this has been primarily due to resource expansion rather than to higher productivity. Yet...

Improving agricultural productivity has been the world’s primary defense against a recurring Malthusian crisis— where needs of a growing population outstrip the ability of humankind to supply food. Over the last half-century, world population doubled while food supply tripled, even as land...

Brazil now is the largest coffee, sugar, and fruit juice producer, second-largest soybean and beef producer, and third-largest corn and broiler producer. It has overtaken the U.S. in poultry exports, nearly matches the U.S. in soybean exports, and dominates global trade in frozen orange juice....