Plant breeding and poverty: Can transgenic seeds replicate the 'Green Revolution' as a source of gains for the poor?

Michael Lipton

Journal of Development Studies, 2007, vol. 43, issue 1, 31-62

Abstract: Improved farm technology helps all main groups of the poor - small farmers, farmworkers, other low-wage labour - when it raises labour value-productivity, but raises land and/or water value-productivity faster; and cuts staples prices, but raises smallholders' total factor productivity faster. From 1965 the Green Revolution walked these two tightropes largely by luck. Though targeting bigger piles of rice and wheat, it cut poverty through consumption; nutrition; smallholder income; employment; risk reduction; and ecological sustainability. Yet large areas were left out, and from 1985 progress slowed. In the new environment for research and agriculture, how can transgenics revive and spread poverty reduction? What has been the evidence so far? What determines whether new varieties have traits conducive to poverty reduction: who owns the research, or what crop science is?

Date: 2007
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220380601055510 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:taf:jdevst:v:43:y:2007:i:1:p:31-62

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/FJDS20

DOI: 10.1080/00220380601055510

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Development Studies is currently edited by Howard White, Oliver Morrissey and Ken Shadlen

More articles in Journal of Development Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().