Impact of Germplasm Research Spillovers: Sorghum Variety S 35 in Chad and Cameroon

Citation: Yapi, A.M., Debrah, S.K., Dehala, G., and Njomaha, C. 1999. Impact of germplasm research spillovers: the case of sorghum variety S 35 in Chad and Cameroon. (In En. Summaries in En, Fr.) Impact Series no. 3. Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. 30 pp. ISBN 92-9066-377-4. Order code ISE 003.

An important objective of international agricultural research institutions is to determine the extent to which research undertaken in one location may impact on other regions of interest. This is because research activities are most often planned to target mandate crops and agroecological areas found in many parts of the world. ICRISAT has, as a policy, distributed a wide range of parental materials to breeding programs in the NARS and private seed industries throughout the semi-arid tropics. This has contributed to faster and cost-effective development of useful final products by the receiving parties.

This study evaluates the impacts and research spillover effects of adoption of sorghum variety S 35, a pure line developed from the ICRISAT breeding program in India. It was later advanced in Nigeria and promoted and released in Cameroon in 1986 and Chad in 1989. Today, S 35 occupies about 33% of the total rainfed sorghum area in Cameroon and 27% in Chad. Compared to farmers' best traditional varieties across all study sites in Cameroon and Chad, S 35 yields 27% more output (grain) and reduces unit production costs by 20%. these farm-level impacts are larger in Chad where yield gain is 51% higher and cost reduction is 33% higher. The net present value of benefits from S 35 research spillover in the African region was estimated to be US$ 15 million in Chad and 75% in Cameroon. These impacts were evaluated from the perspective of national research systems. A conscious decision, therefore, was made to include only those costs associated with national research extension institutions. All other S 35-related research and development expenditures incurred in India and Nigeria were treated as 'sunk costs', that is, costs which would have occurred anyway without spillover. Had each country had to develop S 35 and associated management practices on its own, the time lag between research and release of the technology would have been longer and consequently impacts, if any, would have been smaller. for greater effectiveness in sorghum technology development and transfer in the region, future research and policy actions should take greater advantage of research spillovers through more collaborations, communication, and networking between national, regional, and international research institutions.