This is Atse M. Yapi again.
This time, I would like to share three lessons learned from my experience in assessing the economic impacts of agricultural research technologies:
1) Impact assessment is a multi-disciplinary undertaking, even though it is in many cases led by the socio-economic divisions of the research institutions. It is participatory as it needs the contributions of all the stakeholders who participated in (i) the development of the technology (research scientists from plant breeders to agronomists, socio-economists and research managers/administrators; as well as farmers); (ii) the dissemination of the technology (extension technicians, seed centers and distribution agents, NGOs and farmers); and (iii) funding agencies. Each one of these stakeholder groups has an interest in the impact evaluation results and thus can orient/shape the impact indicators the assessment is to focus on. For example, funding agencies may be interested in knowing whether they have made a wise decision in investing in agricultural research rather than giving their money directly to the Ministry of Agriculture. In this case the epIAs exercise will include among the impact indicators, the estimation of internal rate of return (IRR).
2) Factors that have positively/negatively influenced the impacts must be carefully documented. For economic impact assessments, one factor which positively influences impact is the timing of the delivery of the final technology to the end-users (farmers). The shorter that time, the bigger the net present value of the benefit stream, thus the better the impact. In other words, once a technology is ready, scientists should not waste time before putting it in the hands of farmers/end-users.
3) Developing an agricultural research technology is not the end of the story. As long as the technology is not adopted by the farmers/end-users, scientists should not relax. The ultimate objective of the research effort is not to produce the technology per se but to impact on the livelihood of the farming communities targeted by the research. For example, donors will not be satisfied with the number of new cultivars developed through research, but with the impact these cultivars had on the food security of the farming communities.
Dr. Atse M. Yapi
Agriculture and Natural Resource Policy Consultant,
FAO Regional Office for Africa
Box 1628
Accra,
Ghana
Email: Atse.Yapi (at) fao.org ; atseyapi25 (at) yahoo.com
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