GMOs: Prospects for Productivity Increases in Developing Countries

Evenson Robert E.
Additional contact information
Evenson Robert E.: Yale University

Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, 2004, vol. 2, issue 2, 16

Abstract: There are two mechanisms by which modern genetically modified organism (GMO) products can affect productivity in developing countries. The first is the 'Genes for Rent' mechanism where a recipient country agrees with a GMO company to incorporate a GMO product (e.g., a Bt gene in cotton varieties) and pay a technology fee. The second is the 'Transgenic Breeding' mechanism in which National Agricultural Research System (NARS) breeders use modern biotech methods marker-aided breeding, genetic maps, and genomics research to produce GMO traits of economic value in crop varieties. The first mechanism requires little skill on the part of the recipient country (the GMO supplier will incorporate the gene into a number of varieties). But these GMO products are of little value in "traditional" crop varieties. Few countries have the Intellectual Property Rights or regulatory regimes at present to support this mechanism. The second mechanism is very demanding of skills by NARS breeders. Only a few NARS programs (notably China, India, Brazil, Argentina, and a few other countries) are investing in these skills. The promise of GMO-based productivity gains in developing countries is thus constrained. Only a few countries are positioned to pursue both mechanisms.

Keywords: GMOs; productivity; developing countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.2202/1542-0485.1056 (text/html)
For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:bjafio:v:2:y:2004:i:2:n:2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/jafio/html

DOI: 10.2202/1542-0485.1056

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization is currently edited by Azzeddine Azzam

More articles in Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization from De Gruyter
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().