Economic Impact of Research Investment in Chinat1 Rice Variety Development.

Rice breeding is one of the ways to tackle production problems and to maintain production competitiveness of the country. Although Thailand has been successfully developing improved rice varieties, there is a lack of economic assessment of research investment which is important information for appropriate research planning. Chainat1 is hard rice resistant to leaf curl and blast diseases, resistant to brown plant hoppers and white-backed plant hoppers, and high yielding. These traits were highly demanded by farmers at the time of the release (1993) because existing varieties at the time were vulnerable to pests and diseases such that Chinat1 has been highly accepted until now. This study assesses economic impact of research investment in Chinat1 breeding program by assuming six cases. The results show that in all cases, the net present values of research investment are positive and could generate high internal rates of returns than the discount rate. Thus, the research and investment in rice breeding should continuously be supported, particularly, the breeding programs that target production problems and yield improvements.