Technology and innovation play an increasingly important role in the economic development of both developed and developing countries. We investigate how policy and market factors influence firms’ (or other potential innovators’) decisions on innovation or imitation by developing a conceptual...

The mycotoxin fumonisin is associated with oesophageal cancer and birth defects. The Eastern Cape province of South Africa has high levels of fumonisin in maize and oesophageal cancer. This study measures the amounts of the mycotoxin fumonisin in the grain of Bt maize, commercial hybrids, and...

Declining government budgets, pressure from donors and agribusiness firms and the failure of some government seed corporations are encouraging policy makers in a number of less developed countries (LDCs) to privatize plant breeding, seed production and seed distribution. Developed countries are...

Public research in developing countries in Asia continues to grow, but in many countries the rate of change has slowed and it is lower than growth in agriculture. In Asia, private sector research grew twice as fast as public research (see Table 1). Using a new set of data on private research,...

There has been considerable debate but little empirical analysis among academics, policy makers, and civil society about whether intellectual property rights would induce private research in developing countries. China passed its plant variety protection act (PVPA) in 1997 which allowed us to do...

This study addresses the questions of future sources of technology for increasing food and agricultural production by considering the situation in Asia. This region of the world is particularly appropriate for studying these questions because of the dynamic changes in population and incomes. How...

The application of modern biotechnology to plant breeding is considered to be more efficient and quicker than conventional breeding techniques in the development of new and more resilient crop varieties. To test the impact that biotechnology is having on a industrial plant breeding activities,...

It is widely accepted that new technology is an important source of agricultural growth. Developing countries have tried a variety of policies to accelerate the development and diffusion of new technology. These policies include: (1) government investment in agricultural research and extension,...

Private R&D is a major source of innovation and productivity growth in agriculture worldwide. This paper examines trends and determinants of agricultural R&D in China. Results show that while the public sector monopolized agricultural research until recently, private agricultural R&D has grown...