Tanzania’s agriculture faces persistent low crop productivity due to endogenous and exogenous factors, particularly low and unpredictable rainfall, and the incidence of pests. To address these challenges, the government and partners are making efforts to develop and deploy Genetically Modified (GM) Maize varieties with drought tolerance and insect resistant traits (WEMA), and Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD) resistant varieties. This analysis overcomes limitations from earlier assessments of the impacts of those GM crops by accounting for trade-offs in resource competition and considering the indirect effects of adoption and yield gains from GM maize and cassava varieties on the broader economy, the Agri-Food System (AFS), and on household level outcomes. It extends the BioRAPP analysis to an ex-ante economywide framework. We reveal several findings. First, GM maize and cassava (individually and jointly) have positive impacts in the economy, the AFS, and the poverty, particularly in rural areas and among the poorest households. Second, given its relatively greater relevance in output and employment, and the stronger linkages in the AFS, the effects of GM maize on GDP and AFS growth, and poverty is relatively stronger than those from GM cassava. Third, as expected, relatively greater effects are found in higher adoption and high yield gains scenarios, and, in each scenario, the effects on the poorest households are greater than that for the higher quintiles. Furthermore, differential impact across scenarios is also greater amongst the poorest, while the differences are minimal for the top quintile. Finally, the high variation of results across scenarios, and the significant effects of the high adoption/high yield change scenario, suggest that efforts will be critical to ensure the realization of the maximization of adoption rates while ensuring the materialization of the yield growth potential of the GM varieties through the efficient use of technical recommendations on crop production management, and the introduction of the right investments and policy incentives.

The works that make up my thesis look to summon up buried familial narratives of alter-kinship, love, transnational migration and home-making. At times these unearthings reveal photographic or filmic objects, and at other times they lead to physical gestures of undoing or unmaking. Not only am I interested in recovering what has been obscured, but how burial alters an object, so that what is dug up is not the same as that which was put in the ground.

Small-scale, resource-poor farmers in developing countries face daily stresses, including poor soils, drought, and lack of inputs. Ongoing trends such as climate change and population growth will likely exacerbate binding stresses. A new generation of genetically engineered (GE) crop research aims to alleviate these pressures through the improvement of subsistence crops--such as cassava, sorghum, and millet--that incorporate traits such as tolerance to drought, water, and aluminum in soils as well as plants with more efficient nitrogen and phosphor use. However, many developing countries lack the necessary biosafety systems for a timely and cost-effective adoption. This brief focuses on the regulatory reforms necessary for farmers and consumers in developing countries to benefit from GE crops.

Disputes continue to flare over genetically modified (GM) crops, and their potential to enhance livelihoods in agricultural communities in developing nations. Benefits have been documented for a few GM crops, especially insect-resistant cotton. However, official permission to plant GM seeds on a commercial scale has not been granted in most countries, including a wide range of crops engineered by public research institutes in developing countries. This paper will examine progress in GM crop research from poorer nations, its regulatory status and direction, and whether or not results from this work can reach farmers. It does so by examining public GM research among 16 developing countries as demonstrations of innovation, then looking at the remaining steps they face particularly with regard to biosafety regulation. Recommendations addressing the study's implications are presented in the conclusion. - from authors' abstract.