Impact of maize technology Development and transfer in Ethiopia

Over the last 40 years several open-pollinated and hybrid maize varieties were developed for different agro-ecologies in Ethiopia. This study employed the economic surplus method for an ex-post evaluation of maize technology generation and transfer investment made in Ethiopia from 1986 to 2000. The estimated rate of return for the maize technology Development and transfer investment in Ethiopia was 29% and the net present value at the 10% discount rate was 193.5 million birr (l birr is currently about US$0.11). In addition to these economic indicators, these investments have also contributed significantly to institutional Development, human capacity building, food security and establishing linkages. The study has generally shown that maize technology Development and transfer was profitable to the society. The study strongly implied that systematic ways of generating and documenting data are critical to assess the Development impacts of agricultural research and extension investments. Studies should also be undertaken in the areas of developing methodologies for impact assessment under data scarcity and to estimate the returns of investments already made in the well established Ethiopian agricultural research system.