The Economics of Managing Crop Diversity On-farm: Case Studies from the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative

Description

The purpose of this book is to assess a variety of economic issues as they relate to agro-biodiversity and show how addressing these issues can assist in agro-biodiversity policy-making. This is illustrated using empirical data from some of the countries (Ethiopia, Nepal and Zambia) which are part of the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative. The empirical chapters apply the relevant economic methods, including regression analysis, choice experiments, hedonic pricing, contingent valuation and farm business income analysis. The authors discuss the economics of managing crop diversity on-farm in the context of crop variety attribute preferences, farmers' perception of agro-biodiversity loss, and value addition and marketing of the products of traditional crop varieties. The case studies include detailed analysis of traditional varieties of groundnut, maize, rice, sorghum, and teff. The results are relevant not only to GRPI countries but also to other countries concerned with the sustainable utilization of these resources. Overall, the studies illustrate how genetic resources issues can be integrated into rural development interventions.

Edilegnaw Wale is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics, School of Agricultural Sciences and Agribusiness, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Adam G. Drucker is a Senior Economist at Bioversity International, Rome, Italy. Kerstin K. Zander is a Research Fellow in the School for Environmental Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia.

'The book by Wale and collaborators helps to enlighten us about the deep rooted causes of agro-biodiversity loss. A very valuable addition to the libraries of policy makers, scientists and environmental and development NGOs concerned with this global problem.' Dr. Unai Pascual, Lecturer, Department of Land Economy, Cambridge 'Based on the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative (GRPI), which aims to strengthen the capacity of developing countries to design comprehensive policy frameworks for genetic resources, this book aims to document the range of economic issues of relevance to agro-biodiversity policy. In so doing, it succeeds to link results based on scientific, in this case economic, work to policy recommendations and thereby contributing to both the scientific as well as the policy discussion. Its major contribution to the scientific discussion is the application of various economic approaches (e.g., choice experiments, hedonic pricing, variety attribute preference ranking, contingent valuation and farm business income analysis) to empirically analyze the value chains of plant genetic resources used in food production. In that way the multi-dimensions of in situ conservation become better understood and it is easier to integrate in situ conservation policies into rural development interventions to address potential policy trade-offs. The enhanced economic understanding of the decision processes enables the improved design of well targeted conservation policies for both the traditional varieties well marketable (de facto conserved) and the threatened varieties, which need clear (financial) compensatory measures to be maintained by the farmers. By doing so, the book takes forward the policy discussion to make the conservation of plant genetic resources (used in food production) part of the broader rural development agenda.' Dr. Detlef Virchow, Food Security Center (FSC), University of Hohenheim, Germany