My presentation at the 17th ICABR conference in Ravello, Italy. To view the presentation Click HERE
Adoption Impacts and Access to Innovation in Small Resource Poor Countries: Results from a Second Round Survey and Institutional Assessment in Honduras.
Falck-Zepeda Jose; McLean Denise; Zambrano, Patricia; Sanders Arie; Roca Maria Mercedes; Chi-Ham Cecilia.
Abstract
We conducted a first round survey of maize producers who have adopted Bt/RR maize in Honduras in 2007. Honduras is the only country in Central America who has adopted a GM crop. Our first round survey showed that the adoption of Bt/RR maize was beneficial for maize producers in the country as it provided a yield advantage and in some cases reductions in pesticide applications compared to its conventional counterpart. These outcomes lead to a positive net income gain to producers who adopted the technology. Although the question of whether this result would be replicable in other years is important, other critical questions arose after our first study concluded about the institutional setting -including the knowledge and decision making network- that facilitated the adoption of a GM crop technology and what are the factors that may facilitate or limit the adoption by smallholder producers. In this paper we report the results from a second round survey of producers in Honduras conducted in 2012, but also small group discussions, a Net and process mapping, and semi-structured interviews with current and past relevant decision makers. Our preliminary results from the producer survey support the overall conclusions of our first survey. Our qualitative studies describe the characteristics of an innovation pathway that lead to an innovation in a resource poor country including biosafety regulatory issues, IP, legal frameworks and an assertive agricultural policy supporting sustainable agriculture and development.