Abstract |
CIMMYT economists ask and answer fundamental questions about CIMMYT’s maize and wheat research: Do our research products help people? How do they help them? Can we design research products that are better at meeting farmers’ needs? Are we conducting research efficiently? Are factors beyond research—such as public policies—helping or hindering farmers? Should we enter certain areas of research? Should we abandon others? In other words, CIMMYT economists analyze the elements of success in maize and wheat production, from farmers’ fields to the global marketplace. They also investigate the elements of success in maize and wheat research. To learn why crop production and research succeed in some instances and not in others, economists study technology, the product of research. Technology constitutes practices and inputs—such as improved seed, labor, fertilizer, water, or crop management strategies—that are used to grow crops. Economists study how researchers design technology and how farmers use it, to learn what makes research yield good results. |