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Will Haiti benefit from setting up an agricultural research center? A foresight quantification

Subir Bairagi (Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA)
Alvaro Durand-Morat (Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA)

Foresight

ISSN: 1463-6689

Article publication date: 11 June 2020

Issue publication date: 10 December 2020

172

Abstract

Purpose

Investments in agricultural research and development (AgR&D) have been an engine of agricultural productivity growth; as a result, food security and poverty situations have improved in many countries around the world. However, in Haiti, a small Caribbean country, neither has any formal agricultural research center (ARC) been established nor has a significant amount of money been invested for AgR&D. This paper aims to quantify whether setting up an ARC would be beneficial for Haiti.

Design/methodology/approach

A fixed-effects regression, the International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodity and Trade impact and benefit – cost ratio (BCR) measures are used to estimate future benefits from setting up a new ARC in Haiti.

Findings

A total of US$21.0m annual investment is required for the proposed ARC, which could generate up to US$1.16bn in social benefits during the next three decades. In terms of BCR, if one dollar is invested for AgR&D in Haiti, the payoff could be US$1.33-4.52. Therefore, establishing an ARC is crucial for Haiti, as it is expected to generate positive benefits for society by helping formulate pro-farmer policies as well as disseminating modern agricultural technologies among farmers.

Originality/value

Because, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no such study in Haiti’s perspective, this study contributes to the country’s literature evaluating the feasibility of establishing a new research center in Haiti with a partial equilibrium economic model.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the funding support for this research provided by the Global Futures and Strategic Foresight (GFSF) project and CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets (PIM) led by IFPRI. The authors also acknowledge the funding support from the Copenhagen Consensus Center (CCC). Special thanks to Hugues Charles, agriculture sector expert in Haiti and Brad Wong, Chief Economist of CCC, for their valuable comments in the earlier version of the paper. A working version of this paper was commissioned for the Haïti Priorise series, CCC. The authors also thank Shahnila Dunston, Senior Research Analyst, IFPRI, for simulating the IMPACT model. We thank two anonymous reviewers for their contributions to this manuscript. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of IRRI, PIM, IFPRI, CGIAR or CCC.Statement of data disclosure: The authors do not have permission to share data.Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.Declarations of interest: none.Ethical approval: This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.Resubmission date: March 2020

Citation

Bairagi, S. and Durand-Morat, A. (2020), "Will Haiti benefit from setting up an agricultural research center? A foresight quantification", Foresight, Vol. 22 No. 5/6, pp. 599-616. https://doi.org/10.1108/FS-11-2019-0100

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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