What is Diversity Worth to Farmers?

sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty THE INTERNATIONAL PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES INSTITUTE IFPRI and IPGRI are international food and environmental research organizations principally funded by governments, private foundations, and regional and international organizations, most of which are members of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). IFPRI was established in 1975 to identify and analyze national and international strategies and policies for meeting the food needs of the developing world on a sustainable basis, with particular emphasis on low-income countries and poor people; to make the results of its research available to all those in a position to use them; and to help strengthen institutions conducting research and applying research results in developing countries. IPGRI is an international research institute with a mandate to advance the conservation and use of genetic diversity for the well-being of present and future generations. Founded in 1974, IPGRI is the world's largest international institute dedicated solely to the conservation and use of plant genetic resources, with a staff of over 170 in offices around the world. IPGRI's mission is to encourage, support and undertake activities to improve the management of genetic resources worldwide so as to help eradicate poverty, increase food security, and protect the environment. IPGRI focuses on the conservation and use of genetic resources important to developing countries and has an explicit commitment to specific crops. It has a special responsibility for bananas and plantains, and for supporting the genetic resources work of the CGIAR system. Researchers and policy analysts increasingly need concise, comprehensive information on all aspects of complex research issues. IFPRI's Research at a Glance series has been designed to meet this need. This volume contains the third of a series of IFPRI briefs on genetic resource policies. The first set, published in January 2003 and containing Briefs 1 through 6, focuses on intellectual property rights issues, the second set, published in December 2003 and containing Briefs 7 through 12, focused on issues related to ex situ genebanks and their collections, and this third set sheds light on questions regarding who maintains diversity, where it is maintained, and how farmers value this diversity as societies and economies change. These briefs present syntheses and synopses of research conducted by IFPRI's Environment and Production Technology Division along with multiple collaborators. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was jointly funded and implemented with the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) and a large number …