題目：Assessing the benefits of Green Super Rice in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Mozambique
主講人：（with photo）: Valerien Olivier Pede
時間：2023年5月15日下午19:00-20:30
地點：Zoom: 859 8013 8478
內容介紹：
In Mozambique, smallholder farmers commonly grow rice under rainfed systems with limited fertilizer application; thus, productivity remains very low. Moreover, the adoption rate of improved rice varieties is as low as 3 per cent, partly because these varieties usually require an irrigated environment with the use of fertilizer. Green super rice (GSR) varieties are expected to sustain high yield potential under severe stress conditions. This article used farm-level survey data collected in Mozambique to assess the benefits of the adoption of a GSR variety (Sim?o) on the yield and cost efficiency of smallholder rice producers. The econometric approach involves propensity score matching and a simultaneous equation model with endogenous switching regression to account for observable and unobservable factors that affect adoption and outcome variables. The results indicate positive and significant benefits from adopting GSR on rice yield and cost efficiency for adopters. These benefits are observed not only in irrigated environments where fertilizer is applied together with some more advanced farming practices (i.e. Gaza province), but also in Nampula and Sofala provinces where farmers grow rice under rainfed conditions with no fertilizer application. Our findings suggest that GSR varieties have the potential to bring some positive changes in the development of rice production in Mozambique.
主講人簡介：
Dr Valerien Pede is currently Head of Transformative Policies and Investments, Senior Agricultural Economics and Research Unit Leader at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. He received his PhD in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University (USA) in 2009 and a Master of Science in the same field at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in 2015. He has more than 15 years of experience related to international agricultural development in South and Southeast Asia, West Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa. He has a strong quantitative and qualitative background and track record in leading teams applying modern economic analysis and econometrics methods to support operational agricultural policy recommendations in order to advance food security, reduce poverty, improve environmental sustainability, and adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture. His research interest includes: adoption and impact assessment of agricultural technologies, applied spatial econometric analysis, applied time series analysis, climate change, food security, poverty, economic growth analysis, population economics, regional economics, markets and trade economics etc. He has published widely in peer-reviewed journals.
（承辦：應用經濟系，科研與學術交流中心）
