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Larger incremental benefits from MAB
The use of marker-assisted breeding (MAB) in rice was shown to save between three and six years in development time when compared to conventional breeding (CB). Financially, this equates to an NPV of between USD50 and USD500 million higher, depending on the crop, constraint and country. Similar results were found on cassava as MAB was shown to save three to five years, a benefit of between USD34 to USD817 million over CB. Though upfront costs associated with MAB are much larger compared to CB, the precision of MAB over CB significantly slashes both breeding time and future costs. Hence, the technology is well worth the investment in the context of these studies.
Talking to the women
In conjunction with quantifying the advantages of MAB, data were gathered on the gender impacts of adopting improved varieties of cassava in Nigeria. Here, women are predominantly responsible for the production, processing and marketing of cassava.
Most of the women reported an increase in their household income as a result of the improved cassava. However, they also reported an increase in the amount of time spent on cassava-related tasks. Since time is money, parallel efforts must emphasise gender-sensitive mechanisation technologies. Furthermore, the shorter shelf-life and diminished starch content of the improved cassava highlights a need for further improvements in the new cassava varieties—another area of future research.
What next?
The ability of MAB to save time and money in the context of these studies suggests economic analyses must be conducted for other projects to streamline future breeding efforts. Regardless of which breeding method is used, the research also conveys the pressing need for technologies to tackle saline and phosphorus-deficient soils to boost rice production. Depending on the area of focus, the cumulative economic gains of solving this problem can be as high as USD6.6 billion over the next 25 years.
Finally, although these two studies clearly and convincingly demonstrate the economics of MAB, findings cannot be uncritically generalised to other crops, countries and constraints.
