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Assessing the Impact of Agricultural R&D Investments on Long-Term Projections of Food Security

^aDepartment of International Policy, Wageningen Economic Research, Postal code: 2585 DB, The Hague, Netherlands, Email address: Zuzana.Kristkova@wur.nl, vandijkm@iiasa.ac.at, hans.vanmeijl@wur.nl

^bFaculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences, Postal code: 16521, Prague, Czech Republic

^cEcosystem Services and Management Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Postal code: A-2361, Laxenburg, Austria

World Agricultural Resources and Food Security

ISBN: 978-1-78714-516-0, eISBN: 978-1-78714-515-3

Publication date: 15 July 2017

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the impact of public agricultural Research and Development (R&D) investments on agricultural productivity and long-term food security to derive policy recommendations. The methodological approach is based on the application of the state-of-the art Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to R&D. By endogenizing R&D in global CGE models, it is possible to assess the impact of different public R&D policies on the food availability and food access of food security. This study found that R&D investments bring positive effects on the food access dimension of food security, particularly in places such as Sub-Saharan Africa where prices are expected to grow significantly by 2050, as agricultural land becomes scarcer and more expensive. Doubling the R&D intensity would soften the land constraints and substantially decelerate food prices, thus preventing the deterioration of living standards of rural households and leading to a gain in daily caloric consumption. The impact of alternative agricultural R&D policies on the various dimensions of food security has not been analyzed using a CGE framework, which enables capturing both the benefits and costs from R&D investments. Modeling the dynamic accumulation of R&D stocks makes it possible to analyze the effects of R&D on food security over time.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Program, METCAFOS [Grant Number 625278], aimed at investigating the links between drivers of technical change and sectoral growth integrated into a global CGE model (MAGNET) with the purpose of improving projections of food security.

Citation

Kristkova, Z.S., van Dijk, M. and van Meijl, H. (2017), "Assessing the Impact of Agricultural R&D Investments on Long-Term Projections of Food Security", World Agricultural Resources and Food Security (Frontiers of Economics and Globalization, Vol. 17), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1574-871520170000017001

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited