Potato is the fourth major food crop after rice, wheat and maize in Bihar. It occupies less than 5% of net sown area with production only 4th after rice, wheat and maize. Potato a short duration crop has special significance since it gives exceptionally high yields/unit area/unit time and has...

The recent revolution in the field of biotechnology has triggered off another round of controversy between the developed countries of the North and the developing countries of the South concerning access to genetic resources and equitable sharing of its benefits. Developed countries assert...

The recent revolution in the field of biotechnology has triggered off another round of controversy between the developed countries of the North and the developing countries of the South concerning access to genetic resources and equitable sharing of its benefits. Developed countries assert...

This paper reviews the tools applied in plant biotechnology and explores the prospects for biotechnology to generate benefits for developing countries. Possible near-term applications are identified. Needed capability in biological research, intellectual property management and biosafety are...

The debate in less developed nations over whether to adopt stronger patent protection laws emphasizes the tradeoff between encouraging development of relevant technology through the promise of monopoly profits and discouraging application of existing technology through monopoly control of patent...

The debate in less developed nations over whether to adopt stronger patent protection laws emphasizes the tradeoff between encouraging development of relevant technology through the promise of monopoly profits and discouraging application of existing technology through monopoly control of patent...

While the majority of micro studies finds that rural education increases agricultural productivity, various recent cross-country regressions analyzing the determinants of agricultural productivity were only able to detect an insignificant or even surprisingly negative effect of schooling. In...

This paper addresses various aspects of risk and risk management for smallholders in developing countries, and presents a quantitative assessment of farm-level risks and risk management strategies in three emerging economies: Brazil, China and Viet Nam. The analysis covers production, income,...

While the majority of micro studies finds that rural education increases agricultural productivity, various recent cross-country regressions analysing the determinants of agricultural productivity were only able to detect insignificant or even surprising negative effects of schooling. In this...

One of the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations is to reduce the global level of “extreme poverty” (the roughly 1.5 billion people whose income is less than $1 a day) by half by 2015. How can such a goal be reached? This paper argues that since the vast majority of the...