IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/agreko/347859.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Yield and economic benefits of the national cultivar trials for wheat in South Africa: 1998–2016

Author

Listed:
  • Nhundu, Kenneth
  • Chaminuka, Petronella
  • Nemakhavhani, Sedzani
  • Booyse, Mardé

Abstract

Cultivar choice is an important production decision by which producers aim to achieve highest returns with the lowest risk, for yield optimisation. Cultivar testing through evaluation trials provides information on selected cultivar characteristics and performance under different conditions, which farmers use to minimise risk elements associated with limited cultivar performance information. In South Africa, the Agricultural Research Council conducts national wheat cultivar trials funded from public resources. However, the economic value of the programme remains unknown. The study estimates aggregate economic benefits associated with the programme using data from 1998 to 2016 and attribution methodologies used in other studies, modified within the context of this study. Yield gain estimates are used as indicators to estimate the contribution of seed choice to yield growth at selected levels of the assumed plausible yield gains. Overall, the study estimates that 0.04 ton (40 kg) per hectare of extra wheat yields accrued to wheat producers as a result of cultivar trials in the period under consideration. The net present value was found to be R173 million (in 2016 prices), while South Africa received R4.33 for every Rand invested into the programme. An estimated MIRR of 7 per cent suggests that investments into the programme have been a worthwhile use of public funds. The observed yield gains and favourable efficiency measures motivate continuation of the programme.

Suggested Citation

  • Nhundu, Kenneth & Chaminuka, Petronella & Nemakhavhani, Sedzani & Booyse, Mardé, 2019. "Yield and economic benefits of the national cultivar trials for wheat in South Africa: 1998–2016," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 58(01), March.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:agreko:347859
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.347859
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/347859/files/Yield%20and%20economic%20benefits%20of%20the%20national%20cultivar%20trials%20for%20wheat%20in%20South%20Africa%20%201998%202016.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.347859?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thirtle, Colin G. & Townsend, Rob F. & Amadi, Juliana & Lusigi, Angela & van Zyl, Johan, 1998. "The Rate Of Return On Expenditures Of The South African Agricultural Research Council (Arc)," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 37(4), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Terrance M. Hurley & Xudong Rao & Philip G. Pardey, 2014. "Re-examining the Reported Rates of Return to Food and Agricultural Research and Development," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1492-1504.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nevondo, Takalani T. & Chaminuka, Petronella & Nhundu, Kenneth & Liebenberg, Frikkie, 2019. "Economic returns from investment in beef cattle improvement research in South Africa," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 58(1), February.
    2. Lachaud, Michée A. & Bravo-Ureta, Boris E., 2022. "A Bayesian statistical analysis of return to agricultural R&D investment in Latin America: Implications for food security," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    3. Julian M. Alston & Philip G. Pardey, 2020. "Innovation, Growth, and Structural Change in American Agriculture," NBER Chapters, in: The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth, pages 123-165, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Athanasios Petsakos & Guy Hareau & Ulrich Kleinwechter & Keith Wiebe & Timothy B Sulser, 2018. "Comparing modeling approaches for assessing priorities in international agricultural research," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 27(2), pages 145-156.
    5. Shew, Aaron M. & Nalley, Lawton L. & Durand-Morat, Alvaro & Meredith, Kylie & Parajuli, Ranjan & Thoma, Greg & Henry, Christopher G., 2021. "Holistically valuing public investments in agricultural water conservation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    6. Stéphane Lemarié & Valérie Orozco & Jean-Pierre Butault & Antonio Musolesi & Michel Simioni & Bertrand Schmitt, 2020. "Assessing the long-term impact of agricultural research on productivity: evidence from France," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 47(4), pages 1559-1586.
    7. Terrance M. Hurley & Xudong Rao & Philip G. Pardey, 2017. "Re-Examining the Reported Rates of Return to Food and Agricultural Research and Development: Reply," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 99(3), pages 827-836.
    8. Embaye, Weldensie & Hendricks, Nathan & Lilja, Nina, 2017. "Sorghum research and poverty reduction in the presence of trade distortions in Ethiopia," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 12(2), June.
    9. Wyatt Thompson & Joe Dewbre & Patrick Westfhoff & Kateryna Schroeder & Simone Pieralli & Ignacio Perez Dominguez, 2017. "Introducing medium-and long-term productivity responses in Aglink-Cosimo," JRC Research Reports JRC105738, Joint Research Centre.
    10. Philip G. Pardey & Connie Chan-Kang & Jason M. Beddow & Steven P. Dehmer, 2015. "Long-run and Global R&D Funding Trajectories: The U.S. Farm Bill in a Changing Context," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1312-1323.
    11. Zuzana Smeets Kristkova & Edward Smeets & Hans van Meijl, 2016. "Agricultural R&D investments, biofuel policy and food security – a CGE analysis," EcoMod2016 9966, EcoMod.
    12. Esterhusizen, D. & van Rooyen, C.J. & Doyer, O.T., 2002. "Investment In The South African Agro-Food And Fibre Complex: Perceptions, Evidence And Analysis," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 41(2).
    13. Alejandro Nin Pratt & Eduardo Magalhaes, 2018. "Revisiting Rates of Return to Agricultural R&D Investment," Working Papers id:12723, eSocialSciences.
    14. Steven P Dehmer & Philip G Pardey & Jason M Beddow & Yuan Chai, 2019. "Reshuffling the global R&D deck, 1980-2050," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-12, March.
    15. Andersen, Matthew A., 2019. "Knowledge productivity and the returns to agricultural research: a review," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 63(2), April.
    16. Nicholas Rada & David Schimmelpfennig, 2018. "Evaluating research and education performance in Indian agricultural development," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(3), pages 395-406, May.
    17. Richard Pomfret & Kym Anderson, 2014. "Globalisation and Agricultural Trade," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 54(3), pages 285-306, November.
    18. Zhihua Xiao & Murray Fulton, 2018. "Underinvestment in Producer†Funded Agricultural R&D: The Role of the Horizon Problem," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 66(1), pages 55-86, March.
    19. Townsend, Robert & Thirtle, Colin, 2001. "Is livestock research unproductive?: Separating health maintenance from improvement research," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 25(2-3), pages 177-189, September.
    20. repec:oup:apecpp:v:40:y:2018:i:3:p:421-444. is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Ludemann, Cameron, 2022. "Estimated Annual Value of a Forage Cultivar Selection Decision Tool for New Zealand Sheep and Beef Farmers," AFBM Journal, Australasian Farm Business Management Network, vol. 19(01), April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:agreko:347859. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeasaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.