Revisiting adoption and adaptive capacity parameters for Impact Assessment

The development of improved, fertilizer-response high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice during the early 1960s and their widespread adoption by farmers, first in Asia and then in Latin America, marked the beginning of what is known as the ‘Green Revolution’. Much has been written about this technological breakthrough and its impacts – both positive and negative – in the years since its effects were first felt in farmers’ fields. Anecdotal evidence and specific case study examples are often cited in support of large positive effects as well as negative ones. The core of the debate centers on the nature and size of the impacts from improvements in the crop germplasms. By adopting improved varieties, many farmers lowered costs of production and generated higher rates of return from their land, labour and capital. This, in turn, had positive impacts on income and helped reduce poverty. An indirect spillover effect from modern variety adoption in other areas was also declining crop prices. In the areas not touched by the ‘Green Revolution’, costs of production did not fall, and this, in turn, had an adverse effect on farmers’ income in these regions. Thus, the key challenge now for the CGIAR and its NARS partners is to target Crop Genetic Improvement (CGI) research investments to farmers who have thus far been bypassed by the Green Revolution, primarily in those resource poor, marginal environments (SAT areas) where modern varieties have not yet been adopted