MOTIVATION
Agricultural innovations can transform societies. Extending agricultural productivity improvements to poor farmers could narrow the gap between the developed and developing worlds. Experts agree that agricultural knowledge, science, and technology have played a crucial role in reducing hunger and poverty in the past. The future, however, is uncertain because the impacts of alternative technologies on the food and nutrition security of the rural poor are unknown. To fill this knowledge gap, IFPRI researchers examined the effects of different policy and investment scenarios on the economy, trade, and food security in developing countries. The project was carried out in close collaboration with the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science, and Technology for Development initiative, led by the World Bank, in partnership with several other institutions.
OUTCOMES
Researchers analyzed several alternative agricultural knowledge, science, and technology scenarios, projected to 2050, to determine their implications on food supply and demand, trade, and food security globally, and in India and China specifically. Scenarios from this ACIAR-funded project showed that increased investment in agricultural knowledge, science, and technology would increase food production and reduce the number of malnourished children. These results have had widespread influence on global food policy debates.
- The scenarios were used in the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science, and Technology for Development, which published its reports in 2009. The reports continue to be used as a key reference when crafting agricultural science and innovation policy.
- ACIAR’s Partners magazine reported in its March–June 2010 issue that “the project made an up-to-date analysis of the world food and environmental situation for the current debate on world food prices, security and climate change, with individual assessments for China and India. This information was then provided to the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development secretariat. ACIAR Principal Adviser Dr. Simon Hearn says the project was influential as it provided factual information that influenced the food security debate.”
- The project’s final report was cited in Improving Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems: OECD Conference Proceedings, and was referenced in the World Bank’s 2009 book Awakening Africa’s Sleeping Giant: Prospects for Commercial Agriculture in the Guinea Savannah Zone and Beyond and in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, among others.
- Research on China, as well as global results, contributed to the preparation of the Chinese Academy of Science’s report Science and Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050, which influenced policy recommendations for China’s future research and development investments.
