Partial contents: review of previous studies (employ. impacts of biotechnologies in Latin America: coffee and cocoa in Costa Rica; biotechnology and the future of agricultural development in Mexico); methodological tools and approaches (agricultural biotech. in Latin America: studying its future impacts; biotechnology and agriculture in Brazil: social and economic impacts); integrating impact assessment data into decision-making (improving biotechnology research decision-making with better procedures and information; environmentally sound management of biotechnology in Latin America). Charts and tables.

This book examines the effects of recent changes in the way natural resources and supporting services are managed and in the rights and responsibilities of resource users in developing countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Within the international community there is a growing awareness of the need for a broader and deeper understanding of the relationship between governments and farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Nowhere in the agricultural sector is this awareness growing more rapidly than in the seed sub-sector. Here the quest for alternatives to the large-scale government seed supply organizations of the 1970s and 1980s is becoming more urgent in the face of Africa's stagnating crop yields and mounting food deficits. This book presents the results of the first study to investigate the African seed sector in detail, using case study material from Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It provides a new conceptual approach to analysing structural and organizational issues in the seed sector. The author assesses the likely impact on the seed sector of the two trends of structural adjustment and greater emphasis on community participation. The book also explains the policy lessons for organising the delivery of inputs such as seeds. It will be of interest to economists, other social scientists and policy makers concerned with agriculture and development.