Effects of Adoption and Employment in Projects of Agricultural Innovation in two Zones of Bolivia

Chaco and Chiquitania

Abstract

The National Institute for Agricultural and Forestry Research (INIAF-Bolivia), in partnership with producer associations and other institutions, has executed agricultural technological innovation projects, with financing from the Swiss Development Cooperation (COSUDE), in 2012 to 2016. The lack of technical-economic information for analysis and determination of the degree of satisfaction of the execution and institutional financing proposes to carry out research on the execution of innovation projects. In this sense, five innovation projects have been selected, the primary objective of this research work is the evaluation of productivity effects, net income, adoption effects, and employment. For this purpose, two information-gathering tools have been applied: production cost sheets and structured interviews with crucial informants and producers, beneficiaries of innovation projects. Significant differences have been found in the production costs in each case study after using the evaluation tools, and as a result, gross and net income has been determined for each case. The analysis of profitability using the B/C ratio has determined low values, and a gradual process of adoption of innovations has been identified, which in the future would generate more sources of employment.