An ex ante economic and policy analysis of biotechnology research for livestock disease resistance: trypanosomosis in Africa

This paper undertakes an ex ante assessment of the potential impacts of molecular genetics research on trypanotolerance. The next section describes current research thrusts and their potential for generating usable outputs. The modelling strategy employed to quantify impacts of that research in Africa is then described and the results of the modelling exercise presented and discussed. Implications for research policy are then drawn. Finally, concluding comments are derived from the analysis.

Conclusion: Because of the costs of key biotechnology-related processes in livestock, the uncertainty of the economic benefits, and the lack of knowledge of genes that produce useful modifications, usable results may not emerge for many years. The current analysis indicates that economically justifiable research depends on scientists' abilities to keep pace with, and take advantage of, biotechnology developments in related fields. Maintaining current levels of human resource allocations and making strategic but relatively small capital investments would ensure that capacity. The results also suggest that further research is needed to consistently identify and track the impacts of alternative intellectual property rights options on the levels and distributions of biotechnology research benefits.