Abstract
The main objective of the
present study was to estimate the economic impact
associated with vegetable research and extension in Bangladesh. More specifically, it
was an economic evaluation of vegetable research of the Horticulture Research Centre
of BARI. In view of varietals impact on nation and number of varieties released, four
major vegetables, namely, tomato, brinjal, radish and okra were selected. To fulfil the
objectives, this study employed an ex-post economic surplus approach. In order to
generate conservative estimates, a pivotal supply shift was considered. Hence, Akino
and Hayami model was used since it considers a pivotal shift in the supply curve. Over
the years' sum of total expenditures of all vegetables under study were Tk 588.10
million in current year money value and Tk 786.49 million in terms of inflated money
value of base 2005/06=100. In the year 2005/06, the adoption of the varieties of BARI
tomato, brinjal and radish was highest covering 61%, 35% and 53% area,
respectively. The highest adoption of the only variety of BARI okra was in the year
2001/02, which was 54%. The annual average adoption rates of BARI varieties were
estimated to be 2.82% for tomato, 1.81% for brinjal, 2.61% for radish and 3.23% for
okra. The per hectare average yield of HYV of tomato, brinjal, radish and okra of
BARI over the years in the farmers' field were found to be 27.52, 28.05, 36.02 and
10.33 tonnes, respectively. In the case of traditional varieties, it was 16.88, 20.34,
24.56 and 6.45 tonnes for tomato, brinjal, radish and okra, respectively. The NPV at
2005/06 prices of tomato, brinjal, radish, and okra were estimated to be Tk 3,395.37,
2,101.05, 2,025.18, and 231.19 million, and their BCR were 12.46, 8.27, 15.31, and
4.49, respectively. All the vegetables under study resulted in an aggregate gain of Tk
8,175.26 million to consumers, Tk 370.67 million to producers, leading to an
aggregate gain in economic surplus of Tk 8,545.93 million and the overall net-gain
for the economy were Tk 7,752.76 million with BCR 10.77. The IRR of tomato,
brinjal, radish and okra were calculated as 82.45%, 63.82%, 91.81% and 44.97%,
respectively. The IRR of all the vegetables combined under study was 78.21%.
Sensitivity analysis showed that 1% decreases in the supply shifter and output price
caused decrease in the net benefit by 1.17% and 1.08% for tomato, 1.17% and 1.14%
for brinjal, 1.12% and 1.08% for radish, and 1.38% and 1.28% for okra, respectively.
On the other hand, 1% increase in the expenditure caused 0.9%, 0.27%, 0.14% and
0.58% decrease in the net benefit of tomato, brinjal, radish and okra, respectively. The
findings of this study confirmed that previous investment in publicly funded research
on vegetable gave rise to a remarkable welfare in the country, which will obviously
lead the government for further investment in vegetable research. In addition, it was
empirically proved in the hypotheses that the elasticity of supply and demand
imparted a very little contribution to the change in total surplus, but they were very
important in relation to the distribution of benefits to consumers and producers.