Total factor productivity growth in Brazilian agriculture and the role of agricultural research

This paper reports statistical estimates of the effectiveness of the National System for agricultural research (SN PA ) and rural extension enterprises (EM A TERs) in Brazil. The study is based on an analysis o f Total Factor Productivity (TFP) changes over the agricultural census years 1970, 1975, 1980 and 1985, with separate estimates for both crop and livestock sectors. In the analysis o f the effectiveness o f the research and extension program s, regional (e. g. the cerrados region) and geographic spillovers o f tw o types are incorporated: (1) spillovers from private sector industrial research to agriculture and (2) spillovers from the region o f research conduct to other regions. A grow th accounting exercise indicates that the leading contribution to growth com es from EMBRAPA research program s, with 9 % o f grow th in the aggregate; the industry R & D sector presents a sim ilar contribution; state research institutions contributed 5% to growth

AVALIAÇÃO DE IMPACTOS SOBRE O CONHECIMENTO, CAPACITAÇÃO E POLÍTICO-INSTITUCIONAL DA PESQUISA GERADA PELA EMBRAPA

Este trabalho apresenta a experiência da Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária - Embrapa na avaliação de impactos sobre o conhecimento, capacitação e político-institucional. O trabalho descreve a metodologia utilizada tomando como referência uma revisão bibliográfica sobre o tema e análisa documentos institucionais recentes e relatórios de avaliação disponibilizados pelas Unidades Descentralizadas da Embrapa. A metodologia utilizada para avaliação de impactos desta natureza é baseada na dimensão “capacitação” do método ESAC, criado pelo GEOPI/Unicamp. A Embrapa tem direcionado esforços no sentido de aprimorar a metodologia de avaliação de impactos sobre o conhecimento, capacitação e polítíco-institucional por considerar que os benefícios gerados pelas unidades de temas básicos da empresa, geram, principalmente benefícios intangíveis, que dificilmente podem ser medidos e demonstrados a partir das metodologias de avaliação tradicionais. Anualmente são avaliadas mais uma centena de tecnologias a partir da metodologia. Os resultados apontaram a eficiência do método para avaliar os impactos sobre o conhecimento, capacitação e político-institucional de tecnologias geradas também pelas unidades de pesquisa de produtos e agroflorestal ou agropecuária nas ecorregiões brasileiras. Um produto importante desta avaliação foi a incorporação da necessidade de avaliar os impactos da pesquisa da Embrapa em um enfoque multidimensional, já que a Empresa possui ainda uma longa experiência na avaliação de impactos econômicos, sociais e ambientais.---------------------------------------------This work presents the experience of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation - Embrapa in the evaluation of impacts on the knowledge, qualification and institutional-politician. The work describes the methodology used taking as reference a bibliographical revision on the subject and analyzes recent institutional documents and reports of evaluation disponibilizados by the Decentralized Units of the Embrapa. The methodology used for evaluation of impacts of this nature is based on the dimension “qualification” of method ESAC, created for the GEOPI/Unicamp. The Embrapa has directed efforts in the direction to improve the methodology of evaluation of impacts on the knowledge, qualification and politician-institucional for considering that the benefits generated for the units of basic investigation of the company, generates, mainly intangible benefits, that hardly can be measured and be demonstrated from the traditional methodologies of evaluation. Annually they are evaluated plus a hundred of technologies from the methodology. The results had pointed the efficiency of the method to evaluate the impacts on the knowledge, qualification and institutional-politician of technologies also generated for the units of research of products and agricultural in the Brazil. An important product of of this evaluation was the incorporation of the necessity to evaluate the impacts of the research of the Embrapa in a another approach, since the Company still possesss a long experience in the evaluation of economic impacts, social and environment.Metodologia, Avaliação de impactos, Conhecimento, Methodology, evaluation of impacts, knowledge, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Evaluación de los impactos potenciales de los proyectos regionales de investigación financiados por FONTAGRO: primera convocatoria

Posee un informe consolidado preliminar del 2005.El presente trabajo de evaluación es un esfuerzo que el Fondo, con el apoyo técnico del IICA, y con el financiamiento del BID, está realizando para cuantificar y difundir los impactos de los proyectos financiados, analizando adicionalmente su distribución entre países y diferentes actores, con el fin de impulsar una mayor participación en el Fondo

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Returns to Investment in Training of Agricultural Researchers

Returns to both graduate and continuous training programmes developed and earned out by EMBRAPA are estimated, following the standard social rate of return approach. Benefits were measured at the farm level and derived from adoption of new technolog1es associated with training programmes. Estimates of the internal rate of return are quite htgh for investment in such training programmes, even when compared with any other investment alternative, whether public or private. Those high rates of return were obtained by considermg only the direct net benefits for fanners. The indirect net social benefits of the programmes, although not measurable, can be regarded as favourably supporting EMBRAPA's policy of investment in the development of human resources. Training programmes have produced important benefits for Brazilian agriculture, thereby contributing to the country's social and economic development

Total Factor Productivity Growth in Agriculture: The Role of Technological Capital

In this chapter we compute measures of total factor productivity (TFP) growth for developing countries and then contrast TFP growth with technological capital indexes. In developing these indexes, we incorporate schooling capital to yield two new indexes: Invention-Innovation Capital and Technology Mastery. We find that TFP performance is strongly related to technological capital and that technological capital is required for TFP and cost reduction growth. Investments in technological capital require long-term (20- to 40-year) investments, which are typically made by governments and aid agencies and are the only viable escape route from mass poverty.total factor productivity; technological capital; crop production; livestock production; aggregate production