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The impact of improved maize germplasm on poverty alleviation

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Author Info
Bellon, Mauricio R.
Adato, Michelle
Becerril, Javier
Mindek, Dubravka

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Abstract

"This study documents how poor small-scale farmers in lowland tropical Mexico use improved maize germplasm and how this contributes to their well-being. It does this by assessing both the direct adoption of improved varieties and examining the process of their "creolization." By exposing improved varieties to their conditions and management, continually selecting seed of these varieties for replanting, and in some cases promoting their hybridization with landraces, either by design or by accident, farmers produce what they recognize as "creolized" varieties. Our key hypothesis is that poor farmers benefit from improved germplasm through creolization. Creolization provides farmers with new options, as they deliberately modify an improved technology generated by the formal research system to suit their own circumstances and needs. Different methodologies such as participatory methods, ethnography, household case studies, a household sample survey, and a collection and agronomic evaluation of maize samples were used. This study was carried out in two regions: the coast of Oaxaca and the Frailesca in the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, two of the poorest in Mexico. While one study area is subsistence-oriented and the other commercial, in both, extreme poverty is pervasive. Maize continues to play a key role in the livelihoods of the poor in both study areas. Authors' Abstract

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Paper provided by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in its series FCND discussion papers with number 162.

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Date of creation: 2003
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Handle: RePEc:fpr:fcnddp:162

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Keywords: Sustainable livelihoods ; plant breeding ; Hybrid maize Mexico ; Agricultural innovations ;

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Bellon, Mauricio R. & Adato, Michelle & Becerril, Javier & Mindek, Dubravka, 2003. "The impact of improved maize germplasm on poverty alleviation," FCND briefs 162, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
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  2. Bellon, Mauricio R. & Risopoulos, Jean, 2001. "Small-Scale Farmers Expand the Benefits of Improved Maize Germplasm: A Case Study from Chiapas, Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 799-811, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Fafchamps, Marcel & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 1999. "Social roles, human capital, and the intrahousehold division of labor," FCND discussion papers 73, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  4. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-66, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Lone B. Badstue, 2004. "Identifying the Factors that Influence Small-Scale Farmers' Transaction Costs in Relation to Seed Acquisition," Working Papers 04-16, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA). [Downloadable!]
  2. Bellon, Mauricio R. & Adato, Michelle & Becerril, Javier & Mindek, Dubravka, 2003. "The impact of improved maize germplasm on poverty alleviation," FCND discussion papers 162, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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