Economics of plant breeding: the value of shorter breeding cycles for ricein Northeast Thailand

Plant breeding is an investment with costs incurred during the phase of var ietal development and benefits realized in future years when farmers grow t he varieties. The longer the time required for developing the variety, the more distant in the future the realization of benefits will be. A longer br eeding cycle thus entails an economic cost as farmers lose opportunities to grow better varieties earlier. The economic benefit from a reduction in th e length of the breeding cycle for rice in Northeast Thailand is evaluated here using a cost-benefit analysis. The economic benefit from completing th e current breeding cycle 2 years earlier was found to be of the order of $1 8 million dollars over the useful life of the variety. Sensitivity analyses indicated that the benefits are particularly sensitive to the discount rar e, the number of years required for full adoption, the yield increase over current varieties and the maximum area under improved varieties. Economic t rade-off between early completion of breeding and the required yield increa se to maintain the economic benefits was assessed. The results highlight th e potential value of institutional reforms that will make varieties availab le to farmers earlier by reducing the length of the breeding cycle and the time required for formal release of varieties. Implications for the design of extension strategies to reduce the adoption lag are also discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.