General
092
Gottret, María Verónica. White, Douglas. Assessing the impact of integrated
natural resources management : CIAT challenges and experiences / María Verónica
Gottret and Douglas White. Cali, Colombia : Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical,
[2000] . 36 h. : il. [S 494 .5 .E58 G6]
Advances and travails of CIAT scientists as they develop and implement
an impact assessment (IA) framework for three integrated natural resources management
(INRM) sites in Latin America (hillsides, savannas and forest margins) is presented. Also,
the importance and growing interest of IA for INRM research as a planning , learning and
accountability tool is underlined. The document present a brief historical perspective of
the relationship between development thought and IA methodologies, and analyses the major
challenges of developing and implementing and appropriate methodology that satisfies the
needs of multiple stake holders. A conceptual and analytical framework for INRM research
IA, along with first insights about CIAT efforts on implementing an IA process in its INRM
sites is proposed. The proposed IA methodology would permit tracking relevant types of
changes over time. However, establishing cause-effect or at least influence linkages, is
more complex and is not as simple. Therefore, there is a need for further IA research to
develop a model for assessing and validating the path-to-development impact in order to
evaluate the contribution or at least the influence, of a given intervention to final
development goals. This model could also be useful to conduct ex-ante impact analysis of
different research and development interventions from organizational models to
decision-support tools to technology and information as a criteria for INRM research
priority-setting.
093
Janssen, Willem G.; Crissman, Charles; Henry, Guy; López Pereira, Miguel A.; Sanint, Luis
Roberto; Walker, Tom. 1992. CIAT, CIMMYT, and CIP : their role in agricultural
research in Latin America and the Caribbean. Centro Internacional de Agricultura
Tropical ; Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo ; Centro Internacional de
la Papa. Cali, Colombia. CIAT publication ; no. 213. 54 p. En. (S 540 .8 .C4 C456)
The report discusses how CIMMYT, CIP, and CIAT interact to develop
agriculture, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), according to new
research trends directed toward environmental conservation and management. Concrete
examples are given of achievements so far attained. Five fundamental criteria should be
applied in agricultural R&D: relevancy, social productivity, complementarity,
flexibility, and profitability. The report confirms the importance of the three IARCs to
LAC and their influence on food production indicators, which, during 1966 to 1989,
increased for wheat (95.5 percent), rice (93.5 percent), maize (58.2 percent), beans (11.9
percent), potato (56.5 percent), meat (22.5 percent), and milk (34.3 percent). In Bolivia,
the area planted to beans increased from 3,000 ha in 1989 to 26,000 ha in 1991. Also
discussed are the factors generating changes in the production, food consumption patterns,
and marketing of the products researched by CIAT, CIP, and CIMMYT. The impact of these
centers on LAC agriculture is examined in terms of development of improved germplasm;
institutional development by strengthening research capacities; development of
methodologies; networking and information exchange; crop research and management; and
postharvest issues. The benefits likely to be produced by research on these basic products
by the year 2010 are also estimated. CIAT, CIP, and CIMMYT will explore other dimensions
of technology generation related to economic growth with equity, sustainability, and
collaborative efforts with the private sector. Research on the production systems of these
commodities must continue if these expected benefits are to be obtained.
094
Pachico, Douglas H. Farmer participatory research : measuring impact. En:
International Seminar on Participatory Research Gender Analysis for Technology
Development. 9-14 Sep 1996. Cali (Colombia). New frontiers in participatory research and
gender analysis : proceedingsCali (Colombia). Centro Internacional de Agricultura
Tropical. 1997p. 109-111CIAT publication ; no. 294 .[S 540 .8 .C6 N4]
The major issues in impact assessment for farmer participatory research
(FPR) are analyzed. There are many potential ways in which FPR can have an impact; for
example, increasing agricultural productivity, improving the management of natural
resources or leading to a wider dissemination of innovations. FPR may also be more
effective in reaching specific target groups, and it many reduce research costs and
develop community capacity. Impact will be measured by different groups, and for different
reasons, according to the circumstances. When the time comes to carry out an impact study
, the assessors face a number of decisions: What to measure? The impact chosen will depend
on the motive for the evaluation. The evaluators will take into account the object of the
FDR intervention and also their own intentions for the study. In a typical case applying
FPR to increase productivity through technical change, initial outputs could include types
of technology, which might encompass new varieties of germplasm, or methodologies for
integrated pest management, crop management, or post-harvest. But the ultimate outputs
would be the results of applying these improvements, manifested in increased yields,
reduced production costs, greater stability, or improved sustainability. Types of impact
to be measured may include enhanced diffusion, measured in terms of increased rapidity,
spatial distribution, or diversity of users. It’s important to ascertain that the
technologies are reaching the people who need them: especially those without other
resources, women, ethnic groups, or people in marginal areas.
095
Pachico, Douglas H. Innovation indicators in the agricultural sector in Latin
America. En: Research Evaluation (United Kingdom). 1996. v. 6(3) p. 205-208
Technological innovation is a major element of agricultural policy in
Latin America. Latin American governments invest substantial amounts of their scarce
financial and human resources in improving agricultural output and return on investment.
It is possible to identify the impact of major technical innovations in agriculture
through monitoring productivity measures. In a region where indicators of innovation are
poorly developed, and where it is useful to be able to demonstrate the impact of technical
innovations to politicians and policy-makers, indicators of innovation in the agricultural
sector provide a good case study of the benefits of investment in innovation.
096
Pachico, Douglas H. The distribution of benefits from ownership rights in genetic
resources : the case of beans / Douglas Pachico. Cali, Colombia : Centro
Internacional de Agricultura Tropical, 2000. 10 h. : il. [62563]
With the advent of biotechnology and the emergence of property rights in
genetic materials, the economic value of genetic resources is an issue of growing
importance. Since neither genetic resources nor their use is equally distributed, this
paper develops a model to assess the distribution of benefits from ownership and use of
cultivated and wild bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) genetic resources. First, this paper
quantitatively estimates the potential magnitude of royalty incomes that would accrue to
countries of origin of germplasm. Second, it breaks down royalty flows by countries,
thereby revealing significant intra-regional variation in the distribution of benefits.
Third, a distinction is made between payment for land races versus wild germplasm.
Finally, an estimate of net benefit's from germplasm is presented, taking into account
royalty receipts, royalty payments, and the increase in productivity due to the use of
improved germplasm. The paper finds that a system of ownership rights in bean germplasm
would generate income flows for countries that own major sources of diversity. High income
gene-poor countries of the north, would indeed make payments to low income, gene-rich
countries in the south. However, many low income countries in the south are also poorly
endowed with genetic diversity, and would also be net payers for the use of germplasm.
Most countries in the south would have far more to gain from increases in productivity due
to utilizing germplasm, than they would from receiving royalty payments for the ownership
of germplasm.
097
Pachico, Douglas H. Ashby, Jacqueline Anne. Farrow, Andrew. Fujisaka, Sam. Johnson, Nancy
C. Winograd, Manuel. Case study and empirical evidence for assessing natural
resource management research : the experience of CIAT. Nairobi (Kenya) :
International Council for Research in Agroforestry, [1998] 19 p. [S 540 .E92 P3]
Natural resource management research emerged in the mid 1980's as a
major concern for the global agricultural research system, both national programs and
international centers. Assessing the impact of this research inevitably became a critical
issue, both for prioritizing research and also for monitoring progress. Impact assessment
has become an especially thorny issue because natural resource management research has
represented an expansion of the research agenda for many institutions a time when
resources have become increasingly scarce. A variety of different methods and tools for
assessing impact have been utilized, including indicators; spatial models and geographical
information systems (GIS); economic surplus models; farmer participatory techniques; and
empirical field surveys. This paper explores some conceptual and methodological issues
related to the assessment of impact of natural resource management (NRM) research and
presents a brief overview of some research approaches. The experience of CIAT (Centro
Internacional de Agricultura Tropical), with emphasis on Latin America, is used as a
vehicle of this paper because it illustrates a number of the issues that are confronting a
wide range of institutions and scientists today. While CIAT can not offer a fully
developed model that provides a comprehensive solution to all the issues faced in impact
assessment of NRM research today, examination of its experience may serve as a useful
platform to stimulate an exchange of experiences and viewpoints in this workshop. The
first section of the paper attempts to appraise the broader context of impact assessment
for NRM research. It briefly reviews some dimensions, approaches, and aspects of the reach
of impact assessment of NRM research. The second section of the paper sketches out the
broad outlines of some methodological approaches to NRM impact assessment. Ex ante
approaches are considered, and some aspects of poverty measurement, extrapolation, and
cross scale analysis are noted. The third and final section of the paper will present
brief summaries of the findings of some studies focussing on the impact of NRM research.
098
Pachico, Douglas H.. Hertford, Reed. De Janvry, Alain. Assessing the impact of
agricultural research on poverty alleviation : some issues and priorities. En:
Food Policy (United Kingdom)Vol. 25, no.4 (Aug. 2000), p. 379-388
Poverty and hunger persist in the world. Can the significant investments
in agricultural research of the developing countries and the approximately US$350 million
invested annually by the international community in the CGIAR truly contribute to reducing
poverty in the low-income countries? Is poverty reduction feasible objective for
agricultural research, involving the range of biological, social, management and policy
sciences? How might agricultural research best improve the conditions of the poor? Has
improvement, in fact, been occurring? What kinds of agricultural research project designs,
especially on the part of CGIAR centres, could lead to further abatement of poverty?.
These are some of the many questions that motivated an international workshop in San
José, Costa Rica, from September 14-16, 1999, entitled "Assessing the Impact of
Agricultural Research on Poverty Alleviation". Although rural poverty in the Americas
constituted a starting point, urban poverty and the implications of presentations and
findings for all developing regions were included because the forum was global in nature
and concerned with poverty in all sectors. The workshop focussed on four main themes: 1.
Sharpening understandings about poverty-Update and sharpen perspectives on the extent,
trends and dimensions of poverty. 2. Clarifying the research-poverty linkages-Reduce the
expanse of controversy concerning the impacts of agricultural research on the poor. 3.
Testing the resource degradation-poverty linkages-Test whether agricultural research
focused on the improvement of natural resources deserves a priority emphasis in a
portfolio of projects that seeks to alleviate poverty. 4. Recommending institutional
architectures for increased poverty impacts-Offer guideposts concerning needed changes in
institutions and research systems to alleviate poverty. Abstracts of all the workshop
papers and complete versions of most are available on the CIAT Web page
(www.ciat.cgiar.org). From the 76 papers invited and contributed for the workshop, the
Guest Editors have selected a small set in each of the four principal theme areas for
inclusion in this Special Edition of Food Policy.
099
Rivas Ríos, Libardo. Adopción, medición del uso de innovaciones tecnológicas,
patrones de uso, medición de la productividad / Libardo Rivas R.. Cali, Colombia
: Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical, 1999. 9 h. : il. [62559]
Concepts and proposals about the adoption of agricultural innovations
are reviewed, based on several studies about the topic. Adoption is understood as the
process by which farmers replace one activity with another unknown activity, which
involves learning and changing the production function. Innovation adoption by one farmer
changes his/her individual production function, and when several producers of a given
geographical area adopt that innovation, it becomes aggregate adoption. Final adoption
occurs over the long term, and can be defined as the degree of use of a given technology
when farmers completely understand the characteristics, risks, uses, productivity, and
potential profitability of the new technology. Adoption studies should be considered from
the technological generation viewpoint. Some authors propose that “technology
generation-impact” is linear and sequential, beginning with basic and applied
research, followed by extension activities, and finally emerging into
“adoption-dissemination-impact”. The main objectives of adoption studies are to:
(1) measure the degree of adoption, (2) determine adoption dynamics, (3) identify critical
factors influencing adoption, and (4) generate relevant information to conduct ex-post
impact assessment studies. Not all adoption processes present the same speed and intensity
over time because these vary depending on the product, the region, the farmer segment, and
the production system. Technological adoption studies are highly complex because the
variables included-economic, sociological, physical, and agronomic-are highly diverse.
Adoption studies should have a multidisciplinary approach to thus encompass, understand,
and quantify this complexity, whenever possible. Adoption studies seek to measure the use
of a specific technology in a given population, over a given period of time, which means
that both spatial and temporal dimensions are involved.
100
Rivas Ríos, Libardo. García, James Arbey. Seré Rabé, Carlos. Jarvis, Lovell S. Sanint,
Luis Roberto. Pachico, Douglas H. Economic surplus analysis model (MODEXCO) /
Libardo Rivas R., James A. García, Carlos Seré, Lovell S. Jarvis, Luis R. Sanint and
Douglas Pachico. Cali, Colombia : Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical, 1999. 61
p. : il. [HB 141 .R5]
The economic surplus model MODEXC is a useful tool for estimating
several indicators that will help prioritize technologies (ex-ante analysis) and then
evaluate them after their adoption and dissemination (ex-post analysis). This last version
of MODEXC not only calculates the total surplus attributable to the series of technologies
under study, but also estimates individual technological benefits attributable to a given
technology and dístributes them between producers and consumers. This manual refers
exclusively to the latest version of MODEXC, which runs in Excel. MODEXC can also be used
with Lotus 1-2-3 (English versions 3 and 4). For the numerous researchers in Latin America
and the Caribbean, Excel and Lotus 1-2-3 are the calculation programs most widely
available and easily accessible. The speed with which information is processed will
basically depend on the hardware and on the version of software used. MODEXC can be run in
Lotus 1-2-3, versions 1 and 2, using the file MODEXC2.wk1, and with versions 3 and 4 using
the fíle MODEXC3.wk3. The MODEXC version for Excel 97 corresponds to the file MODEXC.xIt.
This tool can also be used in market analysis, even in situations where technological
change is absent; equity, or how the benefits of technological change are distributed
among the diferente social groups; technological compotents (new variety, new imput or
practices); and spillovers, or indirect effects.
101
Rivas Rios, Libardo. López, Gabriel. Pachico, Douglas H.. Evolución de la
productividad agropecuaria en Colombia 1970-1997 / Libardo Rivas, Gabriel López
y Douglas Pachico. Cali, Colombia : Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical, 1998 .
34 h. : il.. .[HD 9410 .R58]
The evolution of Colombia’s agricultural sector is analyzed for
1970-1997 regarding three issues: (1) analysis of the sector’s historical
development, with special emphasis on the 90s; (2) estimate of production indexes, inputs,
and multifactorial productivity; and (3) adjustment of econometric models to identify
factors influencing productivity. Three periods can be clearly differentiated in the
evolution of the national agricultural sector periods based on the dynamics of total
production and multifactorial productivity (MFP). During the 70s, internal and external
conditions facilitated high growth rates of total product, high incorporation rates of
inputs into the productive apparatus, and a moderate but significant increase in
productivity. The 80s were marked by a low agricultural production growth rate and
stagnant levels of productivity. The 90s were characterized by institutional and policy
changes that have slowed down agricultural growth, reduced cultivated areas and rural
employment, and increased dependency on imported food. During the long study period
(1970-1997), few products have successfully maintained high and stable production growth
rates. Among these are exportable products or products with a high local agroindustrial
demand, such as flowers, oil palm, peanut, fruit trees, and banana. In most of these
crops, increased production was mainly based on increase in cultivated areas. The low
growth rate of production and the unemployment of production resources in Colombia’s
rural sector during the 1990s can be attributed mainly to the reduced income-return.
Although the economic aperture helped reduce production costs, the fall of real prices of
agricultural products in domestic markets voided any positive effect on income-return.
Changes in income-return restored aggregate production, and permanent or plantation crops
gained importance. Overall, the performance of products related to CIAT’s
international mandate (beans, rice, cassava, milk, and beef) has been acceptable in terms
of productivity, especially during the 1990s, which was considered a critical time.
Although productivity has had a significant effect on production growth, pertinent efforts
must continue to thus increase the competitiveness of national agricultural production.
The rigorous selection and prioritization of agricultural activities showing high
potential in domestic and external markets, together with the development of viable and
sustainable technological alternatives, are fundamental to any strategy seeking
modernization of the country’s agricultural sector.
102
Wood, Stanley. Baitx, Wilfred. DREAM : manual para el usuario. San José
(Costa Rica) : Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura ; Banco
Interamericano de Desarrollo ; Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical, 1998 . 55 p.
Priorización de la investigación agropecuaria en América Latina y el Caribe ; no. 2.
.[HD 30 .23 W6]
The DREAM (Dynamic Research Evaluation Management) software for Windows
95 supports economic impact assessment of agricultural research under a broad range of
real or potential conditions, and focuses on the assessment of new technologies or
practices applied at the farm level. The software aims to provide analysts with a tool for
generating relevant and structured information to help in decision-making regarding
policies, strategic options, identification of priorities, and allocation of resources for
agricultural research. Research results normally affect yields and/or production costs
directly, and their impact at a broader level depends on the adoption and market
characteristics of the products involved. DREAM requires users to provide estimates of
several factors complying with these characteristics. This program can work with simple or
very complex problems, and its options include several regions trading among themselves,
dynamic treatment of supply and demand curves, and a range of options to represent
transfer and adoption of technology, among others. The procedures for installing the
software are given, and information is provided on program structure, logic of interface,
steps to create and run a typical scenario, organization and definition of analyses, and
data management. A conceptual description of the model is also provided.
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