This is Dr. Atse M. Yapi again.

The second point I wish to raise is a comment with regard to S.K.T Nasar's observation in Message 17 that most ex post impact assessments (epIAs) are net present value (NPV) based, and as such they ignore completely the opportunity cost (OC). 

I wish to express my conviction that the use of NPV in combination with economic surplus method provides a robust micro-economic foundation to epIAs of agricultural technologies; and as such should not be overlooked as a valid methodological instrument for epIA. In my view, the opportunity cost issue raised by S.K.T. Nasar could in fact be mitigated by casting the impact assessment process in the economic surplus (i.e., producer surplus + consumer surplus) methodology, and using NPV only as an calculation procedure to arrive at the internal rate of returns (IRR) of the investment in agricultural research for the development of the technology being assessed. The IRR is a single indicator which could be helpful in resource mobilization for agricultural research, as many funding agencies are now looking at areas where their funding support could produce the highest return possible!

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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