This paper synthesizes the findings of 22 micro-level studies on technology adoption carried out by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) with national agricultural research systems in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda from 1996-1999. The authors found that technology...

In sub-Saharan Africa, greater use of mineral fertilizers is crucial to increasing food production and slowing the rate of environmental degradation. Regional growth rates in fertilizer consumption have never been particularly high, in part because the real price of fertilizer is higher in...

La tecnolog�a de conservaci�n de los residuos del cultivo, mejor conocida como labranza de conservaci�n, brinda la posibilidad de incrementar la productividad y la sustentabilidad de los sistemas agr�colas en zonas con escasez de agua. La tecnolog�a propone el uso de los residuos de la...

Investments over the past 35 years have created a system of national and international research centers that has revolutionized the supply of improved cereal varieties to developing country farmers. The newly created scientific ability to exploit genetic resources has been the engine of...

Drawing on a series of technology adoption studies carried out by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in collaboration with national agricultural research systems in Eastern Africa during 1996-98, this paper suggests alternative approaches for designing technology...

Identifying the appropriate germplasm to be improved is a key component of any participatory breeding effort because of its implications for impacts on social welfare and genetic diversity. This paper describes a method developed to select a subset of 17 populations for a participatory breeding...

This paper examines the economics of introducing conservation tillage into maize cropping systems in the state of Jalisco, in the western part of Mexico. A stochastic cost-benefit analysis (SCBA) of introducing conservation tillage in two contrasting agro-climatic zones in the four main maize...

Several opportunities are available for dramatically reducing the use of agrochemicals in Asian cereal crop production. The first section of this paper summarizes past trends and future prospects for pesticide use in Asia for the three major cereal crops: rice, wheat, and maize. The second...

Four environments with contrasting potential for agricultural productivity and infrastructure development were identified in Guanajuato State, Mexico, to test hypotheses about the relationship of maize biological diversity to the region's potential for agricultural productivity and...