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The impact of improved maize germplasm on poverty alleviation

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  • Bellon, Mauricio R.
  • Adato, Michelle
  • Becerril, Javier
  • Mindek, Dubravka

Abstract

"This study documents how poor small-scale farmers in lowland tropical Mexico use improved maize germplasm and how this contributes to their well-being. It does this by assessing both the direct adoption of improved varieties and examining the process of their "creolization." By exposing improved varieties to their conditions and management, continually selecting seed of these varieties for replanting, and in some cases promoting their hybridization with landraces, either by design or by accident, farmers produce what they recognize as "creolized" varieties. Our key hypothesis is that poor farmers benefit from improved germplasm through creolization. Creolization provides farmers with new options, as they deliberately modify an improved technology generated by the formal research system to suit their own circumstances and needs. Different methodologies such as participatory methods, ethnography, household case studies, a household sample survey, and a collection and agronomic evaluation of maize samples were used. This study was carried out in two regions: the coast of Oaxaca and the Frailesca in the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, two of the poorest in Mexico. While one study area is subsistence-oriented and the other commercial, in both, extreme poverty is pervasive. Maize continues to play a key role in the livelihoods of the poor in both study areas. Authors' Abstract

Suggested Citation

  • Bellon, Mauricio R. & Adato, Michelle & Becerril, Javier & Mindek, Dubravka, 2003. "The impact of improved maize germplasm on poverty alleviation," FCND briefs 162, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:fcndbr:162
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-766, May.
    2. Haddad, Lawrence James & Adato, Michelle, 2001. "How effectively do public works programs transfer benefits to the poor?," FCND discussion papers 108, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela & Adato, Michelle & Haddad, Lawrence James & Hazell, P. B. R., 2003. "Impacts of agricultural research on poverty: findings of an integrated economic and social analysis," EPTD discussion papers 111, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Bellon, Mauricio R. & Risopoulos, Jean, 2001. "Small-Scale Farmers Expand the Benefits of Improved Maize Germplasm: A Case Study from Chiapas, Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 799-811, May.
    5. Morris, Michael L. & Lopez-Pereira, Miguel A., 1999. "Impacts of Maize Breeding Research in Latin America, 1966-1997," Miscellaneous Reports 48286, CIMMYT: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.
    6. Bellon, Mauricio R. & Adato, Michelle & Becerril, Javier & Mindek, Dubravka, 2003. "The impact of improved maize germplasm on poverty alleviation," FCND discussion papers 162, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    7. Alejandro Guevara, 2000. "Manual para la evaluación de impactos sobre el abatimiento de la pobreza como efecto de la inversión en proyectos ambientales en pequeñas poblaciones rurales," Working Papers 0100, Universidad Iberoamericana, Department of Economics.
    8. Bellon, Mauricio R. & Reeves, Jane, 2002. "Quantitative Analysis Of Data From Participatory Methods In Plant Breeding," Manuals 23718, CIMMYT: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.
    9. Fafchamps, Marcel & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 1999. "Social roles, human capital, and the intrahousehold division of labor," FCND discussion papers 73, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
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    1. Bellon, Mauricio R. & Adato, Michelle & Becerril, Javier & Mindek, Dubravka, 2003. "The impact of improved maize germplasm on poverty alleviation," FCND briefs 162, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Alder Keleman, 2010. "Institutional support and in situ conservation in Mexico: biases against small-scale maize farmers in post-NAFTA agricultural policy," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 27(1), pages 13-28, March.
    3. Bellon, Mauricio R. & Adato, Michelle & Becerril, Javier & Mindek, Dubravka, 2006. "Poor farmers' perceived benefits from different types of maize germplasm: The case of creolization in lowland tropical Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 113-129, January.
    4. Bellon, Mauricio R. & Hodson, David & Bergvinson, David & Beck, David & Martinez-Romero, Eduardo & Montoya, Yinha, 2005. "Targeting agricultural research to benefit poor farmers: Relating poverty mapping to maize environments in Mexico," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(5-6), pages 476-492.
    5. Lone B. Badstue, 2004. "Identifying the Factors that Influence Small-Scale Farmers' Transaction Costs in Relation to Seed Acquisition," Working Papers 04-16, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA).
    6. Antonio Turrent Fernández & Timothy A. Wise & Elise Garvey, 2012. "Achieving Mexico’s Maize Potential," GDAE Working Papers 12-03, GDAE, Tufts University.

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