Papers by Johannes Roseboom
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 1995
Over the past three decades the development of agricultural research staff in sub-Saharan Africa ... more Over the past three decades the development of agricultural research staff in sub-Saharan Africa has been impressive. There were significant increases in the number of researchers (a sixfold increase if South Africa is excluded), in Africanization (from about 90 percent expatriates in 1961 to 11 percent in 1991), and in education levels (over 60 percent of national researchers held a postgraduate degree in 1991). Developments in agricultural research expenditures were less positive. After reasonable growth in spending throughout much of Africa in the 1960s and early 1970s, growth largely stopped in the late 1970s. Donors have been dominant and increasing sources of support for agricultural research in Africa; their share of total agricultural R&D funding (excluding South Africa) grew from 34 percent in 1986 to 43 percent in 1991-49 percent in 1991 if the large and largely locally funded Nigerian system is also excluded. Moreover, an analysis of government spending patterns provides evidence that many of the countries throughout Africa have shifted public investment priorities away from agricultural research. But these overall patterns of development mask important differences between countries and among institutions within countries and these differences have real policy consequences. Many of the developments of the past decade in personnel, expenditures, and sources of support for public-sector R&D in Africa are not sustainable. The rapid buildup of research staff is not paralleled by an equal growth in financial resources. Spending per scientist has continuously declined during the past 30 years, but most dramatically during the 1980s. Resources are spread increasingly thin over a growing group of researchers, which has negative effects on the efficiency and effectiveness of agricultural research. * This paper is one in a series of papers being prepared as part of the IFPRI/ISNAR "Agricultural Research Policy in Africa" project jointly sponsored by DANIDA, SPAAR-World Bank, and USAID.
Gates Open Res, Mar 18, 2019
Policymakers all over the world, but particularly in developing countries, are struggling with th... more Policymakers all over the world, but particularly in developing countries, are struggling with the claim that too little is being invested in public agricultural research and development (R&D). This briefing paper tries to clarify the issue by introducing a simple, stylized model of the economic selection of agricultural R&D projects. The model is based on the concept of an ex ante choice set of all conceivable agricultural R&D projects, which, when ranked by their expected rate of return (ERR), form a distribution that increases steadily (and, we assume, exponentially) with decreasing ERR. The economic selection of R&D projects follows the simple optimizing rule of always selecting the project with the highest ERR first, then the next highest, and so on, until the budget is exhausted or until the ERR of the last selected R&D project equals the social rate of return, whichever comes first. The economically optimal investment level is to finance all R&D projects with an ERR that is equal to, or higher than, the social rate. This simple model highlights two distinctive aspects of the underinvestment problem: (1) suboptimality in project selection-some projects below the optimal cutoff point are selected at the expense of projects above the optimal cutoff point, and (2) the underlying factors that shape the set of agricultural R&D investment opportunities from which to choose. A better understanding of these factors, and those that cause selection suboptimality, may provide important insights into the variables that could help pull (rather than push) additional resources into agricultural R&D. Underinvestment in Agricultural Research and Development Revisited Johannes Roseboom ISNAR Briefing Paper July 2003 60 1. For example, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) have recently recommended doubling investment in agricultural R&D over the next 10 years.
International Service for National Agricultural Research eBooks, 2003
The growth in agricultural R&D investments around the world has slowed considerably in the pa... more The growth in agricultural R&D investments around the world has slowed considerably in the past 20-30 years, even though most experts agree that there is substantial underinvestment in agricultural R&D. Introducing a simple economic model of the ex ante selection of R&D projects allows us to make a more insightful interpretation of the available ex post rate-of-return evidence. Two sets of factors can be identified that determine the level of investment in agricultural R&D: (1) the ex ante choice set of R&D projects for a given domain and time and (2) the extent to which the assumptions of full information and selection rationality apply
Cambridge University Press eBooks, 1989
International Service for National Agricultural Research eBooks, 2001
Data collection for this report began in mid-1998 and took more than a year and a half to complet... more Data collection for this report began in mid-1998 and took more than a year and a half to complete. We received excellent assistance in the actual conduct of the survey from CARDI staff and collaborators in various countries. They often leaned on many others unknown to us to obtain the requested data. We thank them all very much. Caribbean countries not associated with CARDI were approached directly. In the case of the Dominican Republic, the State Secretariat for Agriculture (SEA) and the Center for the Development of Agriculture and Forestry (CEDAF) joined forces to conduct the survey. We especially thank Rafael Perez Duvergé of CEDAF for his coordinating role. The library staff at both CARDI and ISNAR helped enthusiastically with document searches. On the secretarial front, we were assisted, always cheerfully, by Alma Torres, who worked particularly hard on completing the address database, reformatting spreadsheets, and entering reference material into our reference database. Richard Claase made the map of the Caribbean, while Oona Paredes edited and proofed the text, and Bob van Duuren desktoppublished the report. We received constructive feedback on an earlier version of this report from Dr. Compton Paul (PROCICARIBE), Dr. Arlington Chesney (Caribbean Office of IICA), Dr. M.M. Rahman (ISNAR), and Nienke Beintema (IFPRI), as well as from four anonymous reviewers. We thank them all for helping us improve the quality of this report. Last but not least, we thank the Japanese Government for its restricted core contribution to ISNAR, which has supported this component of the ASTI project. The ASTI project is a joint initiative by IFPRI and ISNAR.
International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 2003
This paper presents an analytical framework to measure how farmers (i.e., primary agriculture) in... more This paper presents an analytical framework to measure how farmers (i.e., primary agriculture) in countries at different stages of economic development absorb new technology by buying inputs from other industries. By combining information on the use of purchased inputs in primary agriculture (based on country-specific input±output matrices) with information on R&D intensities in the various supplying industries (based on S&T surveys), an approximation can be made of the R&D investments embodied in those inputs. These`acquired' R&D investments can then be contrasted with local R&D investments that target primary agriculture directly, creating a more complete picture of the sources of innovation in primary agriculture. Data from three case study countries representing low-, middle-, and high-income countries (Colombia, Brazil, and the Netherlands) reveal quite remarkable differences and unexpected results, such as: * the poorest of the three countries (Colombia) is relatively most dependent on technology that is imported, privately financed, and nonagricultural: the richest of the three countries (the Netherlands) scores only highest in absolute terms * * moving from poor to rich countries, a deepening and diversification of input use in primary agriculture takes place mainly in relatively low-tech industries (e.g., services and energy). As a result, the average R&D intensity of agricultural inputs used in Dutch agriculture is not higher than those used in Colombian or Brazilian agriculture.
World Development, Jun 1, 1998
The Dutch agricultural system has been transformed profoundly during the past 25 years. Changes i... more The Dutch agricultural system has been transformed profoundly during the past 25 years. Changes in the structure of the agricultural sector, advancement in science, and more general political and ideological changes are the main forces driving this transformation. In this paper, special attention is paid to the effects of these changes on the institutional context within which the system operates, and on how the experiences in the Netherlands compare with those in other developed countries. The paper concludes with an exploration of possible future developments in the Dutch agricultural research system.
World Development, Jun 1, 1998
For much of the post-WWII period, governments in rich and poor countries alike have increased pub... more For much of the post-WWII period, governments in rich and poor countries alike have increased public spending on, and performance of, agricultural research. The public involvement in, and policies toward, agricultural research and development (R&D) have undergone a sea of change in more recent years. In this article we document these changes, focusing on the public and, rapidly evolving, private roles in financing agricultural R&D, and the international dimensions of these funding and policy issues. We restate the principles for government intervention in research, and highlight the financing aspects of these interventions, before concluding the paper with some reflections on the implications of all these changes for internationally conceived and funded public agricultural R&D.
World Development, Mar 1, 1997
Over the past three decades the development of agricultural research staff in sub-Saharan Africa ... more Over the past three decades the development of agricultural research staff in sub-Saharan Africa has been impressive. There were significant increases in the number of researchers (a sixfold increase if South Africa is excluded), in Africanization (from about 90 percent expatriates in 1961 to 11 percent in 1991), and in education levels (over 60 percent of national researchers held a postgraduate degree in 1991). Developments in agricultural research expenditures were less positive. After reasonable growth in spending throughout much of Africa in the 1960s and early 1970s, growth largely stopped in the late 1970s. Donors have been dominant and increasing sources of support for agricultural research in Africa; their share of total agricultural R&D funding (excluding South Africa) grew from 34 percent in 1986 to 43 percent in 1991-49 percent in 1991 if the large and largely locally funded Nigerian system is also excluded. Moreover, an analysis of government spending patterns provides evidence that many of the countries throughout Africa have shifted public investment priorities away from agricultural research. But these overall patterns of development mask important differences between countries and among institutions within countries and these differences have real policy consequences. Many of the developments of the past decade in personnel, expenditures, and sources of support for public-sector R&D in Africa are not sustainable. The rapid buildup of research staff is not paralleled by an equal growth in financial resources. Spending per scientist has continuously declined during the past 30 years, but most dramatically during the 1980s. Resources are spread increasingly thin over a growing group of researchers, which has negative effects on the efficiency and effectiveness of agricultural research. * This paper is one in a series of papers being prepared as part of the IFPRI/ISNAR "Agricultural Research Policy in Africa" project jointly sponsored by DANIDA, SPAAR-World Bank, and USAID.
... labour intensity and long gestation period, returns to labour of such measures are mostly cri... more ... labour intensity and long gestation period, returns to labour of such measures are mostly critical (Lutz et al., 1994; de Graaff, 1996). Similarly, green manure practices and crop residue mulching require additional labour for harvesting, transport and under-ploughing (Ruben et al ...
American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Nov 1, 1997
In this paper, we present measures of land and labor productivity for a group of ninety‐eight dev... more In this paper, we present measures of land and labor productivity for a group of ninety‐eight developed and developing countries using an entirely new data set with annual observations spanning the past three decades. The substantial cross‐country and intertemporal variation in productivity in our sample is linked to both natural and economic factors. We extend previous work by dealing with multiple sources of systematic measurement error in conventional agricultural inputs. The mix of conventional inputs, indicators of quality of agricultural inputs, and the amount of publicly provided infrastructure are all significant in explaining observed cross‐sectional differences in productivity patterns.
International Service for National Agricultural Research eBooks, 1991
2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA, 2002
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Papers by Johannes Roseboom