Benefits from the adoption of genetically engineered innovations in the Ugandan banana and cassava sectors: An ex ante analysis
Benefits from the adoption of genetically engineered innovations in the Ugandan banana and cassava sectors: An ex ante analysis

Author: Kikulwe, Enoch Mutebi

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-05-07

Total Pages: 92

ISBN-13:

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The Government of Uganda has implemented programs and policies to improve the agricultural sector’s recent underperformance. Uganda’s two main food security crops, bananas and cassava, have been critically affected by two diseases: Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) and Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD). The effectiveness of agronomic and cultural practices to control these diseases has been limited, requiring better alternatives. The Ugandan R&D sector in collaboration with international partners have developed genetically engineered innovations that can control both diseases. To examine the potential benefits to consumers and producers from the adoption of genetically engineered banana and cassava with resistance to BXW and CBSD, we use a set of economic impact assessment methods. These include an economic surplus model implemented via IFPRI’s DREAMpy framework, a real options model and a limited gender assessment. Results from the economic surplus approach suggest that the adoption of both technologies can benefit Uganda. These results were confirmed for the case of bananas and partially for the case of cassava using the real options and the gender assessment performed. Results from this assessment are predicated on Uganda maintaining an enabling environment that will ensure the deployment and use of both innovations. Looking forward, continuing to improve enabling environment for innovation in Uganda will require addressing current R&D, regulatory, technology deployment and product stewardship processes constraints.

Genetically Engineered Crops
Genetically Engineered Crops

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2017-01-28

Total Pages: 607

ISBN-13: 0309437385

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Genetically engineered (GE) crops were first introduced commercially in the 1990s. After two decades of production, some groups and individuals remain critical of the technology based on their concerns about possible adverse effects on human health, the environment, and ethical considerations. At the same time, others are concerned that the technology is not reaching its potential to improve human health and the environment because of stringent regulations and reduced public funding to develop products offering more benefits to society. While the debate about these and other questions related to the genetic engineering techniques of the first 20 years goes on, emerging genetic-engineering technologies are adding new complexities to the conversation. Genetically Engineered Crops builds on previous related Academies reports published between 1987 and 2010 by undertaking a retrospective examination of the purported positive and adverse effects of GE crops and to anticipate what emerging genetic-engineering technologies hold for the future. This report indicates where there are uncertainties about the economic, agronomic, health, safety, or other impacts of GE crops and food, and makes recommendations to fill gaps in safety assessments, increase regulatory clarity, and improve innovations in and access to GE technology.

Orphan Crops: Breeding and Biotechnology for Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Nutrition
Orphan Crops: Breeding and Biotechnology for Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Nutrition

Author: Simon E. Bull

Publisher: Frontiers Media SA

Published: 2024-01-18

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 2832543111

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Orphan crops play an important role in food and nutrition security especially in growing economies where small-holder farmers produce the majority of food. Despite their importance in global agriculture and their often remarkable nutrient content and adaptation to challenging environmental conditions, orphan crops have received limited attention by the scientific community and industry. However, the diversity of neglected plant species provides a large genetic resource that could significantly contribute to broadening the biodiversity of trait-desired crops for novel value chains, sustainable development and food security. The uptake of new plant breeding techniques, notably genome editing, as well as ‘omic’ tools, are now accelerating translation of basic research and facilitating the exploration of orphan crops. These advancements also give rise to public and politic engagement discussions to maximize socio-economic impact. Given that the greatest need for food and nutritional security is in growing economies, issues of food sovereignty and sustainability of their food systems become front-and-centre. There is now an exceptional opportunity to tackle some of the major current challenges in agriculture, including climate change, sustainable cropping systems, food quality, and nutritional security through broadening research in wild relatives of crops and on orphan species. This Research Topic seeks to showcase research on neglected plants using advanced molecular technologies (e.g. genome sequencing, 'omics', etc) and new plant breeding approaches, methods, and tools. This Research Topic will also discuss the challenges and opportunities arising when modern breeding techniques are applied for translational research.

Genetically modified crops in Africa
Genetically modified crops in Africa

Author: Falck-Zepeda, José Benjamin

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2013-10-02

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 0896297950

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A variable climate, political instability, and other constraints have limited agricultural development in African countries south of the Sahara. Genetically modified (GM) crops are one tool for enhancing agricultural productivity and food security despite such constraints. Genetically Modified Crops in Africa: Economic and Policy Lessons from Countries South of the Sahara investigates how this tool might be effectively used by evaluating the benefits, costs, and risks for African countries of adopting GM crops. The authors gather together studies on GM crops’ economic effects and impact on trade, how consumers view such crops, and other issues. They find that GM crops have had, on average, a positive economic effect in the nations where they were used and identify future steps for enhancing GM crop adoption’s positive effects. Promising policy initiatives include making biosafety regulations that do not make GM crop development prohibitively expensive, fostering intraregional trade in GM crops, and providing more and better information about GM crops to consumers who might currently be skeptical of them. These and other findings in Genetically Modified Crops in Africa indicate ways biotechnology can contribute to economic development in Africa south of the Sahara.

Economic and Social Issues in Agricultural Biotechnology
Economic and Social Issues in Agricultural Biotechnology

Author: Robert E. Evenson

Publisher: CABI

Published: 2002-07-01

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 9780851997889

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There are currently many controversial socioeconomic issues concerned with the development and implementation of agricultural biotechnology. This book presents selected revised and edited papers from the fourth and fifth meetings of the International Consortium on Agricultural Biotechnology Research, held in Italy in 2000 and 2001.

Annual report 2020: CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)
Annual report 2020: CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Author: CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2021-09-09

Total Pages: 87

ISBN-13:

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In 2020, PIM findings contributed to seed policies in Nepal and Uganda, Malawi’s extension strategy and approval of insect-resistant cotton, a nationwide program aimed at improving the effectiveness of public service delivery in Uganda, social protection programs in Egypt, and school gardens for better nutrition in Papua New Guinea. At the global level, PIM research was used to shape strategic decisions of organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GIZ, the Inter-American Development Bank, the UK Government's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the World Bank and the World Health Organization. PIM tools were incorporated in universities’ curricula in India and South Africa. Examples of PIM innovations scaled up by partners in 2020 are private sector seed marketing in Ethiopia, picture-based insurance in Ethiopia, India and Kenya, and tools for inclusive governance of natural resources in India and Peru.

Africa's Gene Revolution
Africa's Gene Revolution

Author: Matthew A. Schnurr

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 2019-11-07

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 0228000459

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As development donors invest hundreds of millions of dollars into improved crops designed to alleviate poverty and hunger, Africa has emerged as the final frontier in the global debate over agricultural biotechnology. The first data-driven assessment of the ecological, social, and political factors that shape our understanding of genetic modification, Africa's Gene Revolution surveys twenty years of efforts to use genomics-based breeding to enhance yields and livelihoods for African farmers. Matthew Schnurr considers the full range of biotechnologies currently in commercial use and those in development - including hybrids, marker-assisted breeding, tissue culture, and genetic engineering. Drawing on interviews with biotechnology experts alongside research conducted with more than two hundred farmers across eastern, western, and southern Africa, Schnurr reveals a profound incongruity between the optimistic rhetoric that accompanies genetic modification technology and the realities of the smallholder farmers who are its intended beneficiaries. Through the lens of political ecology, this book demonstrates that the current emphasis on improved seeds discounts the geographic, social, ecological, and economic contexts in which the producers of these crops operate. Bringing the voices of farmers to the foreground of this polarizing debate, Africa's Gene Revolution contends that meaningful change will come from a reconfiguration not only of the plant's genome, but of the entire agricultural system.

The Future of Genetically Modified Crops
The Future of Genetically Modified Crops

Author: Felicia Wu

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2004-08-13

Total Pages: 115

ISBN-13: 0833040510

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The world is now on the cusp of a new agricultural revolution, the so-called Gene Revolution, in which genetically modified (GM) crops are tailored to address chronic agricultural problems in certain regions of the world. This monograph report investigates the circumstances and processes that can induce and sustain this new agricultural revolution. The authors compare the Green Revolution of the 20th century with the GM crop movement to assess the agricultural, technological, sociological, and political differences between the two movements.

Science, Technology, and Innovation for Sustainable Development Goals
Science, Technology, and Innovation for Sustainable Development Goals

Author: Ademola A. Adenle

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2020-07-28

Total Pages: 593

ISBN-13: 019094952X

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After the United Nations adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to "end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all," researchers and policy makers highlighted the importance of targeted investment in science, technology, and innovation (STI) to make tangible progress. Science, Technology, and Innovation for Sustainable Development Goals showcases the roles that STI solutions can play in meeting on-the-ground socio-economic and environmental challenges among domestic and international organizations concerned with the SDGs in three overlapping areas: agriculture, health, and environment/energy. Authors and researchers from 31 countries tackle both big-picture questions, such as scaling up the adoption and diffusion of new sustainable technologies, and specific, localized case studies, focusing on developing and middle-income countries and specific STI solutions and policies. Issues addressed include renewable energy, automated vehicles, vaccines, digital health, agricultural biotechnology, and precision agriculture. In bringing together diverse voices from both policy and academic spheres, this volume provides practical and relevant insights and advice to support policy makers and managers seeking to enhance the roles of STI in sustainable development.

Agricultural Research in Africa
Agricultural Research in Africa

Author: Lynam, John

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2016-09-06

Total Pages: 459

ISBN-13: 0896292126

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This book—prepared by Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI), which is led by IFPRI—offers a comprehensive perspective on the evolution, current status, and future goals of agricultural research and development in Africa, including analyses of the complex underlying issues and challenges involved, as well as insights into how they might be overcome. Agriculture in Africa south of the Sahara is at a prospective tipping point. Growth has accelerated in the past decade, but is unsustainable given increasing use of finite resources. The yield gap in African agriculture is significant, and scenarios on feeding the world’s population into the future highlight the need for Africa to expand its agricultural production. Agricultural Research in Africa: Investing in Future Harvests discusses the need to shift to a growth path based on increased productivity—as in the rest of the developing world— which is essential if Africa is to increase rural incomes and compete in both domestic and international markets. Such a shift ultimately requires building on evolving improvements that collectively translate to deepening rural innovation capacity.