An overview

"In light of an increasing focus on new demand-driven extension approaches that aim at accelerating the adoption of innovative technologies by smallholder farmers in developing countries, greater analysis is needed of the role of rural social networks and their impact on technology adoption. This paper contributes to this topic by reviewing selected studies on rural social networks and by outlining a research approach that combines social network analysis with econometric estimation techniques in one coherent framework to strengthen the study of technology adoption by smallholders. If applied, such a framework could help establish which network characteristics have the greatest impact on technology uptake, thereby lending support to and improving the design of new extension approaches." --from authors' abstractNon-PRIFPRI1; GRP29ISNA

GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: BACK TO THE FUTURE

World agriculture faces enormous challenges in the coming decades. To feed the world adequately in 2050, agricultural production in developing economies will need to nearly double. Incremental production will mainly come from increases in yields or cropping intensities. This paper focuses on the potential of genetically modified (GM) crops to contribute to agricultural productivity growth and poverty reduction in developing economies. Based on a comprehensive literature review, we aim to shed light on whether GM crops benefit farmers and are able to address their current and future needs. The first part reviews farmlevel impacts of GM crops in developing economies. The second part discusses the GM crop research pipeline. GM crop markets are expected to grow in the future, but not to change dramatically. We conclude that GM crops benefited farmers, including resource-poor farmers, in developing economies, but benefits are location and individual-specific. Addressing such complexities will be required to unlock technology potentials

Adoption and Impact of Hybrid Wheat in India

In the light of ongoing debates about the suitability of hybrid seeds for smallholder farmers, this paper analyzes the adoption and impact of hybrid wheat in India. Based on survey data we show that farmers can benefit significantly from the proprietary technology. Neither farm size nor the subsistence level influence the adoption decision, but access to information and credit matters. Moreover, willingness-to-pay analysis reveals that adoption levels would be higher if seed prices were reduced. Given decreasing public support to agricultural research, policies should be targeted at reducing institutional constraints, to ensure that resource-poor farmers are not bypassed by private sector innovations

Gender differences in assets

Agriculture can be an important engine of growth and poverty reduction. But the sector is underperforming in many countries in part because women, who are often a crucial resource in agriculture and the rural economy, face constraints that reduce their productivity. In this paper we document the gender gap in access to and ownership of most inputs, asset and services important for agricultural activities. We focus in particular on education, land, livestock, financial services, modern inputs, information and extension and labour. Across assets and inputs women are disadvantaged. The gap in education has narrowed over the last decades but substantial gaps remain in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. For land, the key farm household asset, there are significant gender differences in access to land across regions. Moreover female-headed households also typically operate smaller land holdings than male-headed households, across regions. There are also significant and systematic gender differences with regard to livestock, financial services, modern inputs, information and extension and labour. Gender differences in assets are generally interlinked, for example when female farmers have lower levels of technology this is due to their having less access to land, less access to labour and less access to extension services, not their sex. This also helps explain why women farmers do not necessarily benefit from access to extension services, as some studies have found. The implication of this is that selective interventions are unlikely to be effective

The role of women in agriculture

Agriculture can be an important engine of growth and poverty reduction. But the sector is underperforming in many countries in part because women, who are often a crucial resource in agriculture and the rural economy, face constraints that reduce their productivity. In this paper we draw on the available empirical evidence to study in which areas and to what degree women participate in agriculture. Aggregate data shows that women comprise about 43 percent of the agricultural labour force globally and in developing countries. But this figure masks considerable variation across regions and within countries according to age and social class. Time use surveys, which are more comprehensive but typically not nationally representative, add further insight into the substantial heterogeneity among countries and within countries in women's contribution to agriculture. They show that female time-use in agriculture varies also by crop, production cycle, age and ethnic group. A few time-use surveys have data by activity and these show that in general weeding and harvesting were predominantly female activities. Overall the labour burden of rural women exceeds that of men, and includes a higher proportion of unpaid household responsibilities related to preparing food and collecting fuel and water. The contribution of women to agricultural and food production is significant but it is impossible to verify empirically the share produced by women. Women's participation in rural labour markets varies considerably across regions, but invariably women are over represented in unpaid, seasonal and part-time work, and the available evidence suggests that women are often paid less than men, for the same work. Available data on rural and agricultural feminization shows that this is not a general trend but mainly a sub-Saharan Africa phenomena, as well as observed in some sectors such as unskilled labour in the fruit, vegetable and cut-flower export sector. This paper re-affirms that women make essential contributions to agriculture and rural enterprises across the developing world. But there is much diversity in women's roles and over-generalization undermines policy relevance and planning. The context is important and policies must be based on sound data and gender analysis