Description

This report covers research done for the USAID Office of Agriculture and Food Security of the Center for Economic Growth and Agriculture (Global Bureau). The overall objectives was to develop and evaluate methods to assess the impact of the Introduction and use of technology resulting from USAID investments in agriculture and natural resources for developing countries. A suite of integrated, interactive models was created for use in developing countries to assess the economic, environmental, and societal impact of such technologies. The research, conducted in East and West Africa, involved acquiring relevant databases and expert opinions through collaboration with national and regional partners; establishing a spatial framework using GIS methods to organize and analyze spatially explicit information; developing biophysical models to estimate production and environmental consequences of new technology; and adapting and using economic sector and farm-level models to estimate their economic consequences. Environmental consequences were estimated at field, area, and watershed levels. Methods were developed and evaluated to estimate the adaptation of new technology to geographically similar zones in areas that were both contiguous and noncontiguous to the locations where the technology was developed. The approach involved using research sponsored by USAID as case studies for developing and evaluating methodology. This provided both new methodologies and illustrative examples of the utility of the products. The project has proven the concept for the approach and, while the resulting products are judged to be imperfect, they are usable for the stated purposes. Further development is being continued under the Global Project of the SANREM CRSP.