For every $1 Icrisat spends, there is a return on investment of $43. An impact study done by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics found that its research has positively impacted lives of dry land poor on a large scale, showing “high returns on investment (RoI) in agricultural research for development.”
Speaking on the impact created by Icrisat’s Jewels here on Friday, its Director-General William Dar said the RoI for the institute over the last 40 years was still higher at $70 for every dollar it invested.
Dar is retiring on December 31 after holding the post for 15 years, serving three consecutive five-year terms.
The Icrisat’s ‘jewels’ included creation and management of the hybrid parents research consortium (HPRC) on pearl millet and sorghum in India; community-based watershed management in China and fertiliser micro-dosing practices in Zimbabwe and Niger.
The impact study also covered breeding and release of many varieties of crops important to the dry lands, specifically drought-tolerant groundnuts in India (Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh) and extra-early pearl millet hybrid in north-western India.
“The very high RoI highlights the focussed approach of the institute. The figures are based on 10 of its most successful initiatives,” the Director-General said.
The institute works on a few mandate crops that dry land farmers in Asia, Africa and other poor regions grow. It develops seeds that can give more yields and withstand various stresses.
William A Masters of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and Department of Economics, Tufts University, US, said the impact assessment report provided an analysis of the economic return on investment from 10 crop research programmes undertaken by the institute in recent years.