2,097 research outputs found
Market-Smart Subsidies: Not a magic bullet
No full textDerek Byerlee (World Bank) 24th July 2009, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington D.C
Analysis of Allocative Efficiency in Northern Pakistan: Estimation, Causes, and Policy Implications
Get PDFRealising productivity gains in agriculture is an important challenge for Pakistan. With a fast-growing population (3.1 percent per year), it is difficult for the economy to meet domestic food requirements. Like most less developed countries, yields of most crops in Pakistan are lower than the yields realised by researchers in on-farm experiments conducted in the farmers’ fields. The average yield gap between the farmers’ current yields and what would be profitable and feasible, given existing technology, is reported to be 30 to 40 percent [Byerlee (1987)]. Byerlee (1987), however, suggests that there is a potential for increasing productivity in most of the irrigated areas of Pakistan through the use of new inputs and a more efficient use of the existing inputs to exploit the genetic potential of the existing varieties. He argues that the wide array of new inputs vastly increases the complexity of crop management. The technical skills required to use the new inputs efficiently are much greater than the simple skills needed to adopt varietal changes. Hence, with more complex technological options and a more dynamic environment, the potential for economic inefficiency (both technical and allocative) is substantially increased. The purpose of this paper is to measure farm-specific allocative efficiency and the effect of management variables on allocative efficiency of wheat producers in an irrigated area in northern Pakistan. This will assist researchers, extension agents, and policy-makers to identify the ways and means to increase wheat productivity in Pakistan.
Nobel Prize-winning Author Derek Walcott to Speak March 28
No full textOXFORD, Miss. - Nobel Prize-winning author Derek Walcott is a featured lecturer March 28 at the University of Mississippi
Maize revolutions in Sub-Saharan Africa
Get PDFThere have been numerous episodes of widespread adoption of improved seed and long-term achievements in the development of the maize seed industry in Sub-Saharan Africa. This summary takes a circumspect view of technical change in maize production. Adoption of improved seed has continued to rise gradually, now representing an estimated 44 percent of maize area in Eastern and Southern Africa (outside South Africa), and 60 percent of maize area in West and Central Africa. Use of fertilizer and restorative crop management practices remains relatively low and inefficient. An array of extension models has been tested and a combination of approaches will be needed to reach maize producers in heterogeneous agricultural environments. Yield growth overall has been 1 percent over the past half-century, although this figure masks the high variability in maize yields, as well as improvements in resistance to disease and abiotic pressures that would have caused yield decline in the absence of maize breeding progress. The authors argue that conducive policies are equally, if not more, important for maize productivity in the region than the development of new technology and techniques. Currently popular, voucher-based subsidies can"crowd out"the private sector and could be fiscally unsustainable.Crops&Crop Management Systems,Agricultural Research,Food&Beverage Industry,Food Security,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems
A conversation with Dr. Derek Schuurman about developing responsible technology
No full textIn this episode, I am joined by Dr. Derek Schuurman, professor of computer science at Calvin University and co-author of a new book entitled A Christian Field Guide to Technology for Engineers and Designers with IVP Academic. Today, we talk about how to responsibly develop technology in light of the Christian worldview
Derek Mahon as translator
No full textDerek Mahon has devoted much of his productive life to translation, especially from the French. This paper studies his handling of French texts, distinguishing those which he has freely recreated from those which he has assimilated to his own style and those where he has made himself subservient to the character of the original author. Attention is drawn to his inventiveness, his wit, his moderation and rationality, his concern for effective and relevant communication with the reader, his rhythmic sense and his concern for emphasis and coherence. It is argued that the practice of translation affords Mahon the opportunity to write "at one remove" from direct feeling, and in so doing to combine breadth of feeling and of cultural reference with self-awareness and self-discipline
New Wheat Varieties and Small Farmers
Get PDFThe distribution of the benefits of new agricultural technologies is the subject
of continuing controversy, especially following the widespread adoption of new
wheat and rice varieties in developing countries over the last 10-15 years. This
paper is motivated by the popular belief that the introduction of the new wheat
varieties has benefited the rich at the expense of the poor (see, for example,
Pearse; and Simmonds). We believe that the available evidence on the impact
of the new wheat varieties supports a quite different conclusion--that the poor
have benefited substantially from these new varieties. Here we summarize
evidence on only one aspect of the distribution of benefits from new wheat
varieties, the distribution of benefits to poor producers relative to larger
producers (Byerlee and Harrington). Conceptual issues in analyzing these
benefits are discussed and empirical evidence, especially new evidence appearing
since 1975, is presented from Mexico, India, and other countries where the new
wheat varieties are widely used
Interview with Derek Nikitas, part 1 of 2 [video]
No full textDerek Nikitas is a faculty member in the Creative Writing MFA Program and author of two recent mystery novels, The Long Division (2009) and Pyres (2007). Nikitas\u27 first novel was nominated for the prestigious Edgar award, and has been optioned for film adaptation by Vox3 Films. His second novel, The Long Division, is receiving rave reviews
Interview with Derek Nikitas, part 2 of 2 [video]
No full textDerek Nikitas is a faculty member in the Creative Writing MFA Program and author of two recent mystery novels, The Long Division (2009) and Pyres (2007). Nikitas\u27 first novel was nominated for the prestigious Edgar award, and has been optioned for film adaptation by Vox3 Films. His second novel, The Long Division, is receiving rave reviews
A critical edition of Derek Walcott's Omeros
Get PDFThe thesis is a Critical Edition of Derek Walcott’s Omeros, consisting of a Critical
Introduction and Annotations. The Critical Introduction analyses:
- Narrative
- Settings
- Metaphor and Paronomasia
- Symbolism
- Historiography
- Intertexts
- Dualism
- Autobiography
- Dialects
- Prosody.
The Annotations comment on more than 1000 references that may be obscure and on
specifics of narrative, language and prosody.
This study presents new conclusions about some aspects of Omeros:
- It challenges the prevailing view that the work is written substantially in a
variation of terza rima and shows that regular quatrains predominate.
- It demonstrates ways in which the metrics follow the sense of the narrative and
takes a more balanced position on the use of Caribbean as opposed to classical
metrics than that put forward previously.
- It identifies a paragraphic structure to the verse.
- It proposes a new prosodic structure for the significant Chapter XXX/iii.
- It extends Walcott’s recognised use of numerology into word counting the
names of characters.
- It develops the idea of Walcott’s dualism and his use of pairing and
contradiction as a dialectical method.
- It defines his wide use of paronomasia and shows that many of the puns have a
metaphorical aspect beyond mere word-play.
- It analyses some of Walcott’s symbolism.
- It identifies intertextual links to his earlier works and to some thirty other
writers, and suggests homage to Hemingway and possibly Heaney.
- It provides the first complete analysis of Walcott’s rhyme types in Omeros.
In its analysis of Omeros and in the Annotations it has included commentary from
across the critical literature, to provide some sense of other views on Walcott’s
writing, and has included as many as possible of Walcott’s own comments on Omeros
and on the writer’s task, as a background to understanding the poem
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