Reasonable expectations on the prospects for documenting the impact of agricultural research on poverty in ex-post case studies

The increasing emphasis on poverty alleviation as a motivation for investin g in public-sector international agricultural research is discussed from th e perspective of practitioners engaged in ex-post impact evaluation. Contex t is largely provided from the experience of the International Potato Cente r (CIP) in impact assessment of improved potato and sweet potato technologi es. The poverty content of 10 CIP-related success stories of technological change was qualitatively assessed with a checklist of key questions. With t his admittedly crude method, the size of project Net Present Value (NPV) ap pears to be an informative guide to the magnitude of poverty effects. Hence , projects that generate widespread benefits to many people, particularly t o net consumers of food crops, remain likely to be the most effective vehic les to contribute to poverty alleviation from public sector investments in the improvement of food crops in developing countries. (C) 2000 Elsevier Sc ience Ltd. All rights reserved.