Potential Effects of Transgenic Rice on Farm Households' Nutritional Status in Bangladesh

The spread of agricultural biotechnology in developing countries has grown rapidly in recent years. Several transgenic products are under development with potential to address a variety of adverse production conditions. These products have raised hope that yield and quality improvements in rice will accelerate and help in the battle against under-nutrition, especially in areas of prevalent under-nutrition in Asia. A farm household model is developed and estimated to project ex ante effects of introducing transgenic rice on farm households¡¯ nutritional status in Bangladesh. Assuming the yield effects of transgenic rice are similar to that of previous high yield varieties, the model estimates the profit effect of introducing transgenic rice. The profit effect is then translated into effects on farmers¡¯ consumption decisions. The results indicate that the total profit elasticity with respect to the percentage of rice area in high yield variety is 0.08. The calorie elasticity with respect to the percentage of rice area in HYV ranges from 0.062 in non-poor to 0.074 in poor households, and the protein elasticity ranges from 0.075 in non-poor to 0.084 in poor. Therefore, the results indicate that transgenic rice is likely to play a significant role in improving farm households¡¯ nutritional status in terms of total calorie/protein intake.