Economic impact of technology adoption on bean production under rainfed conditions in northern central Mexico

Abstract

The allocation of public resources to agricultural research is a factor of development for the agri-food sector of the country and should be efficiently oriented towards the generation of technological products that provide benefits to the population. The aim of this work was to evaluate the economic benefit at a level of production system and society, derived from public investment in research and development of the technological package fordry bean crop production in rainfed areas in north central Mexico. To evaluate the impacton the production systems, 42 questionnaires were administered to users of the technological package in municipalities of Aguascalientes and San Luis Potosí. Likewise, in order to assess the impact at a society level, the economic return produced by the public investment used in the generation and adoption process of technology in the 2009 to 2025 period was estimated. The evaluation was performed through the net present value (NPV), the internal rate of return (IRR) and the cost benefit ratio (B/C R). The production cost for adopters was 36.3 % higher compared to traditional technology; however, the yield increased by 102 % and the net income increased by 3226 %. At a society level, the evaluation revealed an NPV of $ 10.9 million, which represented 4.1 times more than what was invested in the generation of technology; the B/C R was 5.1 and the IRR was higher than the real average rate of return considered (9.5 %). The development and transfer of the technological package for sowing beans represented a good investment of public resources, benefiting the population and producers, because it increases food production and farmers’ net in come.