Variability in grain yields: Implications for agricultural research and policy in developing countries. Jock R. Anderson and Peter B. R. Hazell (Eds) Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1989, pp. 395
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230130107 |
| Date | 01 February 1993 |
| Published date | 01 February 1993 |
| Author | Allan Low |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, VOL. 13,8148 (1993)
Book
Reviews
VARIABILITY IN GRAIN YIELDS: IMPLICATIONS
FOR
AGRICULTURAL
RESEARCH AND POLICY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Jock
R.
Anderson
and
Peter
B.
R.
Hazeil
(Eds)
Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore,
1989,
pp.
395
Variability in world cereal production has increased such that the probability of a major
(5
per cent) shortfall below trend increased from
3.5
per
cent in the
1960s
to
6.8
per cent
in the
1970s.
This book provides a comprehensive examination of the extent and causes
of
changes in production variability. The biological, climatic and economic factors underlying
these changes are analysed. The implications
of
increased production variability for producers
and policy-makers are also discussed. However policy-makers seeking clear guidelines on
how to reduce production variation will be disappointed, as will planners seeking insights
into the effect of variability on the slow adoption of green revolution technology in less
favourable regions, such as Africa.
The real increase in global cereal production variability that has taken place does not
appear to be due to higher relative variability of improved varieties (except in semi-arid environ-
ments). Breeders have generated high-yielding varieties that tend to be more stable over a
range of environments than lower-yielding varieties. In large measure increased production
variability is attributable to indirect effects of the characteristics of modern high-yielding
varieties. Varieties bred for wide adaptability by screening genotypes that perform well over
many locations seem
to
have resulted in common susceptibility to pests and diseases and
a common responsiveness to weather conditions. This problem has been aggravated by the
responsiveness of newer varieties to purchased inputs. Farmers’ adjustments of inputs from
year to year, in response to changes in price
or
availability, may induce both a higher degree
of variability in modern varieties, and an increase in yield covariances between crops, farms
and regions.
Although the book is based on the proceedings of a workshop,
a
common analytical
approach and the introductory and concluding chapters help to tie together
a
sometimes
monotonous string of stand-alone chapters. It is not
a
book that the busy administrator
will find rewarding. However, for researchers in many fields related to grain crops this book
contains much of what is known about the question
of
production variability and is likely
to be a standard reference on the subject
for
many years to come.
ALLAN Low
Development and Project Planning Centre, University
of
Bradford
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: LESSONS FOR DEVELOPMENT POLICY
Edited by
Robert
E.
Evenson and Gustav
Ranis
Intermediate Technology Publications, London,
1990,
pp. xvi
+
391.
It is no great mystery, says one of the authors in this collection of papers commissioned
by the Economic Growth Center of Yale University, how development proceeds, once it
starts. It is the conditions under which the required investments in the capacity
to
absorb
technological advances are made, and the conditions under which they are not, that remain
the great mystery for development theory:
How could a
country
as poor as Korea
.
.
.
or Taiwan was twenty years ago, or as Japan was a
century
ago, have made those very large-scale investments
first
in
primary and secondary education,
0
1993
by John Wiley
&
Sons,
Ltd.
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