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The "Efficient Boundaries" of International Agricultural Research: A Conceptual Framework with Empirical Illustrations

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/9138/
 
Title The "Efficient Boundaries" of International Agricultural Research: A Conceptual Framework with Empirical Illustrations
 
Creator Kamanda, J
Birner, R
Bantilan, C
 
Subject Others
Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics
 
Description The role of international agricultural research centers (IARCs) has long been a
subject of discussion, often with emphasis that they should conduct research that
produces international public goods (IPGs). However, centers still face a dilemma on
how to balance between IPGs and location-specific work. This paper contributes to
the development of principles by which they should position themselves. Transaction
cost economics was applied to develop a framework, which is then illustrated with an
empirical case study of legume research at the International Crops Research Institute
for the Semi-Arid Tropics. A participatory mapping technique (Net-Map) was
combined with key informant interviews in India, Malawi and Ethiopia. We find that
IARCS play an important role in germplasm improvement, the field in which they
have a comparative advantage. However, due to insufficient capacity of national
systems, they also engage in downstream activities. This reduces incentives for
governments and donors to overcome governance challenges.
 
Date 2015-08
 
Type Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/9138/1/Efficient%20Boundaries_%20of%20International%20Agricultural%20Research-687.pdf
Kamanda, J and Birner, R and Bantilan, C (2015) The "Efficient Boundaries" of International Agricultural Research: A Conceptual Framework with Empirical Illustrations. In: International Association of Agricultural Economists, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy.