IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/cfcp15/344284.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Assessing the development impacts of bio-innovations The case of genetically modified maize and cassava in Tanzania

Author

Listed:
  • Benfica, Rui
  • Zambrano, Patricia
  • Chambers, Judith
  • Falck-Zepeda, Jose

Abstract

Tanzania’s agriculture is characterized by low productivity due to unpredictable rainfall and the prevalence of pests and diseases. Genetically modified (GM) maize offering protection against drought and insects are being developed. Likewise, GM varieties resistant to cassava brown streak disease were developed. Building on prior crop-based analyses, we use the Rural Investment and Policy Analysis (RIAPA) CGE model to assess the impacts of the adoption of those GM crops. GM maize and cassava have positive effects on the economy, the Agri-Food System (AFS), and poverty. Given its stronger linkages in the AFS, the effects of the GM maize are stronger, especially in higher adoption and high yield scenarios. Likewise, the effects on the poorest and rural households are greater. The high variation across scenarios, and the significant effect of the high adoption/high yield scenarios, suggests a high return to investments and policies that realize these adoption rates and yield potential.

Suggested Citation

  • Benfica, Rui & Zambrano, Patricia & Chambers, Judith & Falck-Zepeda, Jose, 2024. "Assessing the development impacts of bio-innovations The case of genetically modified maize and cassava in Tanzania," IAAE 2024 Conference, August 2-7, 2024, New Delhi, India 344284, International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:cfcp15:344284
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.344284
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/344284/files/20812.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.344284?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benfica, Rui & Cunguara, Benedito & Thurlow, James, 2019. "Linking agricultural investments to growth and poverty: An economywide approach applied to Mozambique," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 91-100.
    2. Zambrano, Patricia & Paul, Namita & Chambers, Judith A. & Falck-Zepeda, José B. & Hanson, Hillary, 2019. "bEcon 4 Africa: An overview of the literature on the economic assessment of GE crops in the continent, 1996-2016," IFPRI discussion papers 1841, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Sulser, Timothy & Wiebe, Keith D. & Dunston, Shahnila & Cenacchi, Nicola & Nin-Pratt, Alejandro & Mason-D’Croz, Daniel & Robertson, Richard D. & Willenbockel, Dirk & Rosegrant, Mark W., 2021. "Climate change and hunger: Estimating costs of adaptation in the agrifood system," Food policy reports 9780896294165, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Aragie, Emerta & Xinshen Diao & Spielman, David J. & Thurlow, James & Mugabo, Serge & Rosenbach, Gracie & Benimana, Gilberthe Uwera, 2022. "Public investment prioritization for Rwanda’s inclusive agricultural transformation: Evidence from rural investment and policy analysis modeling," Rwanda SSP working papers 3, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Wilhelm Klümper & Matin Qaim, 2014. "A Meta-Analysis of the Impacts of Genetically Modified Crops," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(11), pages 1-7, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stads, Gert-Jan & Wiebe, Keith D. & Nin-Pratt, Alejandro & Sulser, Timothy B. & Benfica, Rui & Reda, Fasil & Khetarpal, Ravi, 2022. "Research for the future: Investments for efficiency, sustainability, and equity," IFPRI book chapters, in: 2022 Global food policy report: Climate change and food systems, chapter 4, pages 38-47, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. PK Gupta, 2018. "An Assessment of Relative Risks to Human/Ecological Health Biotech Crops versus Other Human Activities," Current Investigations in Agriculture and Current Research, Lupine Publishers, LLC, vol. 1(2), pages 51-62, February.
    3. Bai, Yan & Alemu, Robel & Block, Steven A. & Headey, Derek & Masters, William A., 2021. "Cost and affordability of nutritious diets at retail prices: Evidence from 177 countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    4. Vincent Smith & Justus H. H. Wesseler & David Zilberman, 2021. "New Plant Breeding Technologies: An Assessment of the Political Economy of the Regulatory Environment and Implications for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-18, March.
    5. Phélinas, Pascale & Choumert, Johanna, 2017. "Is GM Soybean Cultivation in Argentina Sustainable?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 452-462.
    6. Kalaitzandonakes, Nicholas & Lusk, Jayson & Magnier, Alexandre, 2018. "The price of non-genetically modified (non-GM) food," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 38-50.
    7. Xiangzi Fang & Samane Ghazali & Hossein Azadi & Rytis Skominas & Jürgen Scheffran, 2024. "Agricultural land conversion and ecosystem services loss: a meta-analysis," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(9), pages 23215-23243, September.
    8. Paul Vincelli, 2016. "Genetic Engineering and Sustainable Crop Disease Management: Opportunities for Case-by-Case Decision-Making," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-22, May.
    9. Aragie, Emerta & Diao, Xinshen & Spielman, David J. & Thurlow, James, 2024. "The economywide recovery measures in Rwanda during the COVID-19 pandemic: How useful a lesson?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 1103-1124.
    10. Paulina Kubisz & Graham Dalton & Edward Majewski & Kinga Pogodzińska, 2021. "Facts and Myths about GM Food—The Case of Poland," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-16, August.
    11. Johannes Ziesmer, 2024. "Identifying key sectors of sustainable development: A Bayesian framework estimating policy‐impacts in a general equilibrium," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(2), pages 458-483, April.
    12. Tylecote, Andrew, 2019. "Biotechnology as a new techno-economic paradigm that will help drive the world economy and mitigate climate change," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 858-868.
    13. Jonas Kathage & Manuel Gómez-Barbero & Emilio Rodríguez-Cerezo, 2016. "Framework for assessing the socio-economic impacts of Bt maize cultivation," JRC Research Reports JRC103197, Joint Research Centre.
    14. Ulrich Hartung & Simon Schaub, 2018. "The Regulation of Genetically Modified Organisms on a Local Level: Exploring the Determinants of Cultivation Bans," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-23, September.
    15. Neubauer, Florian & Wall, Alan & Njuki, Eric & Bravo-Ureta, Boris, 2023. "Climatic Effects and Farming Performance: An Overview of Selected Studies," 2023 Inter-Conference Symposium, April 19-21, 2023, Montevideo, Uruguay 338540, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    16. Sibhatu, Kibrom T. & Qaim, Matin, 2018. "Review: Meta-analysis of the association between production diversity, diets, and nutrition in smallholder farm households," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1-18.
    17. Bequet, Ludovic, 2020. "Biotech Crops, Input Use and Landslides Case Study of Herbicide Tolerant Corn in the Philippine Highlands," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    18. Scheitrum, Daniel & Schaefer, K. Aleks & Nes, Kjersti, 2020. "Realized and potential global production effects from genetic engineering," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    19. Vargas Meza Xanat & Ke Jiang & George A. Barnett & Han Woo Park, 2018. "International trade of GMO-related agricultural products," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 565-587, March.
    20. Deepayan Debnath & Madhu Khanna & Deepak Rajagopal & David Zilberman, 2019. "The Future of Biofuels in an Electrifying Global Transportation Sector: Imperative, Prospects and Challenges," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(4), pages 563-582, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Food Security and Poverty; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:cfcp15:344284. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://iaae-agecon.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.