This chapter estimates the rate of return (ROR) to investments in research and technology development in the wine grape industry in South Africa. The analysis illustrates the applied and adaptive research conducted in the industry and estimates RORs of about 40% for R&D and extension. These...

Eastern and Southern Africa, in particular, have been burdened with chronic food insecurity, pervasive rural poverty and natural resource degradation. In many countries, agricultural research and development (R&D) has had limited success in improving agricultural productivity and the...

The ultimate interest of investors in agricultural research and development (R&D) is the extent to which their investment eventually bears a positive outcome on the lives of the poor and hungry people of developing nations without seriously harming the natural resource base. Consequently, most...

At independence in 1960, Africa was a modest food exporter while Asia was engulfed in a food crisis. The Green Revolution boosted food production in Asia and the global food problem shifted to Africa. However, science and technology have been promoted on an ad hoc basis in Africa's 45 years of...

A net exporter of wheat in the 1960s, Kenya now imports the majority of its wheat requirements. Kenyan demand for wheat is rising with rapidly increasing population and higher incomes, leading to massive importation. Yet despite Kenya's investment in wheat research and extension over the past 90...

Sorghum and millet are important for human consumption in marginal rainfall regions, for low income consumers in other regions and for beer production in Zimbabwe. After independence the research and policy emphasis on sorghum shifted towards communal farmers, from red-seeded to the white-seeded...

The Southern African Development Community (SADC)/International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics Sorghum and Millet Improvement Program (SMIP) was started in 1983 as a regional initiative of the SADC in collaboration with one of the International Agricultural Research Centres....

Pearl millet is the most widely grown and utilized cereal in northern Namibia especially in Ovambo and Kavango regions. A millet variety was identified in the late 1980s from the Sorghum and Millet Improvement Program nursery in 1986 and officially released in 1990, under the name Okashana 1. This...

Maize was introduced in Tanzania in the 16th century but research on appropriate varieties and management practices did not get underway until the 1940s. In 1974, a National Maize Research Program (NMRP) was established to co-ordinate maize research. During 1974-1994 the NMRP released 15 varieties. ...

The objective of this study was to estimate the economic return to public investment in livestock research and development in Tanzania from 1966 to 1995. The supply response model was used to estimate supply elasticities for cattle and small ruminant meat and milk products. The results showed that...