Commissioned by the CGIAR Science Council and prepared as a Background Paper for the 2008 World Development Report of the World Bank.

The Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project is currently developing Bt maize for Kenya. So far, Bt genes with resistance to Chilo partellus, Chilo orichalcociliellus, Eldana Sacharina, and Sesamia calamistis, four of the five major stemborers were successfully incorporated into elite...

Bt maize in Kenya is promising biotechnology innovation for poor households. Econometric prediction from a trait-based model of variety adoption indicates that the choice of host variety has equity and efficiency implications related to heterogeneity in maize growing environments and pest...

Market liberalization created a situation where there are no guaranteed grain prices, no central information source and the need for marketing information increased. Unfortunately, most farmers have little or no access to marketing information. This study evaluates farmers’ perceptions of...

Empirical evidence from research on Bt maize in Kenya puts to rest most concerns raised against GMOs (not responding to farmers' needs, expensive, benefiting agro-business, risk of decreased biodiversity), but does indicate that contamination of local varieties is likely and buildup of insect...

Since the beginning of 1970’s, more than 40 improved maize varieties have been released and disseminated to maize potential areas in Ethiopia. Using cross-sectional survey data collected in 2011 from 39 districts in five Regional States, this paper examines smallholder farmers’ knowledge,...

This paper establishes level of up-take of the business opportunities provided by the metal silos technology among the artisans who were trained on how to make metal silos. It also assesses the factors that determine the practice of the metal silo business among the trained artisans. A third of...