Modern varieties, international agricultural research, and the poor

If one simply "adds up" existing evidence on the biological features of MV"s, their adoption (often after a time lag) by small farmers, the increase in labor-use due to MV"s, and their effect on poor people"s consumption and nutrition, this question evokes on balance a positive answer. A more "holistic" approach to the matter, however - one that integrates standard general-equilibrium economics, political economy, and the comparative history of agricultural revolutions - suggests, on the contrary, that the pro-poor potential of MV"s has largely been lost due to: (1) the insertion of MV"s into social systems favoring urban groups and their big farmer suppliers; (2) demographic dynamics making labor cheaper relative to land; and (3) research structures prioritizing fashionable topics rather than genuine needs of the poor. Responsibility to study and realize the pro-poor potential of MV"s within actual sociopolitical systems rests especially on international researchers; only they are relatively immune from pressures to steer research away from the needs of the poor. A 23-page bibliography (1894-1985) is appended.