Abstract:
Most developing countries have
achieved
productivity growth in economic sectors like
agricultur
e
for more than 30 years.
U
niversities and governmental research centers have
tried to generate knowledge with direct social and economic effects during th
ese
decades.
So, productivity and production
growth can be attributed to technological changes
made
possible
through investment in agricultural research. Also, investment in agricultural
research
can have high
economic return
s as well as
help
s
to reduc
e
poverty. Thus
,
this
study
investigate
d the
impa
ct of agricultural research
investment
on productivity growth
and poverty reduction in Iran during 1971
-
2010.
To this end
, firs
t,
an
agricultural
productivity trend was estimated
. T
hen
, the effects of
agricultural
research
expenditure
on productivity growt
h and poverty reduction
were evaluated using a system of
simultaneous equations. Results indicate that agricultural productivity
grew
during this
time and agricultural
research
expenditure had positive effect on agricultural
productivity and
helped reduce
poverty.
Nonetheless,
barriers like low adoption rate of
improved agricultural technologies, lack of awareness of potential research benefits, weak
extension systems and poor infrastructural development limited the impact of
agricultural research
on
poverty reduction. Therefore, improving the operation of
extension
services as well as
credit and input supply systems are instruments with which
to raise returns to agricultural research investments.
Keywords:
Extension services,
S
imultaneous equations,
Total Factor Productivity, Research
investments
