A biotechnology revolution is proceeding in tandem with international proliferation of intellectual property regimes and rights. Does the intellectual property impede agricultural research conducted in, or of consequence for, developing countries? This question has important spatial dimensions...

The number of higher-education institutions and the students enrolled in them has grown rapidly throughout Africa since the early 1960s. The number of universities increased from less than 20 in 1960 to nearly 160 by 1996; student numbers grew from 119,000 to almost two million over the same period,...

Governments around the globe are trimming their support for agricultural R&D, giving greater scrutiny to the support that they do provide, and reforming the public agencies that fund, oversee, and carry out the research. These contemporary developments represent a break from previous patterns,...

In general, reported rates of return to agricultural R&D are high, but questions have been raised about upward biases in the evidence. Among the reasons for this bias, insufficient attention to attribution aspects. Matching of research benefits and costs is a pervasive problem, the magnitude of...

In this paper we describe how biophysical data can be used, in conjunction with agroecological concepts and multimarket economic models, to systematically evaluate the effects of agricultural R&D in ways that inform research priority setting and resource allocation decisions. Agroecological...

As the goals of international agricultural research move beyond increasing food production to the broader aims of reducing poverty, both agricultural research and studies of its impact become more complex. Yet examining the magnitude and mechanisms through which different types of agricultural...

The primary goal of agricultural research has been to increase agricultural production, particularly in high-potential areas. This has contributed enormously to reducing the number of people living in poverty worldwide, as well as to reducing food prices for all. Despite these gains, about 1...

As the goals of international agricultural research move beyond increasing food production to the broader aims of reducing poverty, both agricultural research and studies of its impact become more complex. Yet examining the magnitude and mechanisms through which different types of agricultural...

As the goals of international agricultural research move beyond increasing food production to the broader aims of reducing poverty, both agricultural research and studies of its impact become more complex. Yet examining the magnitude and mechanisms through which different types of agricultural...

Agricultural research and development (R&D) is big business. Worldwide investments in public-sector agricultural R&D totaled about US$17 billion in 1990. But "business as usual" may not be sustainable. As governments trim budgets, public support for national and international research is coming...