Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer by the Private Sector in the Philippines

Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

The Asian Maize Biotechnology Network (AMBIONET): A Model for Strengthening National Agricultural Research Systems

Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

The Asian Maize Biotechnology Network (AMBIONET): A Model for Strengthening National Agricultural Research Systems

This report reviews the impacts of the Asian Maize Biotechnology Network (AMBIONET), organized by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) with funding from the Asian Development Bank to strengthen the capacity of public maize research institutions in China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam to produce high-yielding, disease resistant, stress tolerant maize cultivars. It was found that, during its lifetime (1998-2005), AMBIONET clearly benefited researchers and institutions in participating countries, as well as CIMMYT. In addition, there was good progress toward developing improved cultivars. Asian farmers are just beginning to gain from the work, but their future benefits will likely pay for AMBIONET’s relatively modest expenditures many times over.Zea mays, Plant breeding, Biotechnology, Breeding methods, Research methods, Disease resistance, Yield increases, Research institutions, China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Viet Nam, Asia, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, F30, F01,

Deregulating technology transfer in agriculture : reform's impact on turkey in the 1980s

Turkey is one of a handful of developing countries that have liberalized regulation of agricultural inputs and welcome private firms delivering technology and inputs. The authors show that Turkish regulatory reform affecting seeds and other inputs in the 1980s: 1) Greatly increased private technology transfer into Turkey. 2) Encouraged market entry for more foreign and domestic companies involved in production and trade in Turkey. 3) Allowed private firms to increase their share of input markets. 4) Where inputs brought new technology, allowed farmers to significantly increase yields and production. The authors recommend that the World Bank and other donors involved with agriculture pay more attention to the regulation of inputs in developing countries. They also recommend that developing country governments revise regulations to leave choices about technology performance to farmers and markets - and to focus instead on externalities, removing unnecessary obstacles to provide technology transfer through the production and trade of inputs. Other countries that have similarly reformed the regulation of agricultural inputs include Chile (in the 1970s), Bangladesh and India (at the end of the 1980s), Malawi (in 1995-96), and Romania (in 1997).Knowledge Economy,Agricultural Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Economic Theory&Research,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Agricultural Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems

Pearl millet and sorghum improvement in India:

millions fed, food security, Pearl millet, Sorghum,

Intellectual Property Rights on Research Tools: Incentives or Barriers to Innovation?

This paper examines the role of patents in the development and use of two platform technologies for plant biotechnology - plant transformation techniques and structural genomics. We find that patents were important in inducing private firms to develop these platform technologies. There development led to the commercialization of more GM varieties, more rapidly than would have been the case otherwise. We did identify a number of examples of GM varieties that were slowed down by the patents on tools. However, our preliminary assessment of the evidence suggests that the benefits from patents on tools outweigh the costs.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

LIBERALIZATION'S IMPACT ON THE INDIAN SEED INDUSTRY: COMPETITION, RESEARCH, AND IMPACT ON FARMERS

This article attempts to measure the impact of IndiaÂ’s limited liberalization on the seed industry and on farmers. Using a unique data set on the structure, research, and sales of private seed firms at two points in time, 1987 and 1995, we provide evidence that liberalization increased the competitiveness of the seed industry, and increased the amount of research by Indian and foreign seed firms. Then, using government district level data and data collected from these firms, we show that private hybrids increased farmersÂ’ yields. This suggests that Indian farmers are the true beneficiaries of liberalization and that policies that encourage more competition and more research will provide future benefits to farmers.Crop Production/Industries,

PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN ASIA

This study addresses the questions of future sources of technology for increasing food and agricultural production by considering the situation in Asia. This region of the world is particularly appropriate for studying these questions because of the dynamic changes in population and incomes. How much private research is there and what is it producing? Will the private sector compensate for declining public agricultural research investments in Asia? What can governments do to stimulate private research and protect farmers from harmful or defective technology? Agribusiness firm's R&D investments were evaluated in selected developing countries during 1996 and 1998 and compared with data from a similar study conducted in the mid-1980s. The largest amount of private research was in India where investment was about $55 million per year in the mid-1990s, followed by Thailand, Malaysia, and China. China's private R&D spending represents less than one one-hundredth of 1 percent of agricultural gross domestic product. In contrast, in Thailand and Malaysia, firms spent about 0.1 percent. From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, private sector R&D grew in real terms in the countries in our sample. However, at this rate, private research will not fill the gap needed to support rapid growth in demand for agricultural products. Foreign firms made an important contribution to private research in all of these countries. The most important policy that helped induce this growth was liberalization of industrial policy that allowed private and foreign firms to operate and expand in agricultural input industries. A second important policy was investments in public research. Patents and tax incentives seem to have had little effect so far, but could be important in the future.Agricultural research and development (R&D), private sector R&D, technology transfer, Asian R&D, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Completion Report of the Asian Agricultural Research Project (Contract No. AID/ASIA-C-1456)

Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

The Limits of intellectual property rights: Lessons from the spread of illegal transgenic seeds in India

Genetically modified seeds have to be approved by biosafety regulators before they can be commercialized. Illegal seeds are, however, common in many developing countries including Brazil, China and India. They potentially pose dangers to biosafety and also undermine the intellectual property rights of firms that own the genetically modifed traits. Their unchecked spread has been attributed to the near impossibility of enforcement when potential violators involve millions of small farmers. Based on a survey of cotton growers in Gujarat, India in 2004, and an examination of the structure of cotton seed production this paper finds that the government, in fact, possesed the information and means to enforce the law. A contingent valuation exercise reveals high relative valuations for illegal seeds correlated with the perceived costs of pesticide application. We discuss how that matters to the political cost of enforcement and to socially optimal policiesIntellectual Property Rights, Biosafety Regulation, Genetically Modified Seeds, Transgenic Varieties, Bt Cotton