Expanding the Green Revolution to Small farmers in Ecuador (1970-1990s)

Abstract

The article highlights the convergence between a new generation of researchers at the Ecuadorian National Agrarian Research Institute (INIAP) and the emergence of a new international research agenda focusing more on small farmers during the second phase of the Green Revolution in the mid-1970s. It does so via analysis of two agrarian modernization programs for small farmers: the Research in Production Program and the Andean Crops Program, the first linked to the Mexican International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and the second to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). These programs further illustrate a new trend in INIAP research, in relation to the initial phase since 1964 which had focused on responding to the needs of landowners and international research centers interested in conducting plant-breeding tests. The article highlights the convergence between a new generation of researchers at the Ecuadorian National Agrarian Research Institute (INIAP) and the emergence of a new international research agenda focusing more on small farmers during the second phase of the Green Revolution in the mid-1970s. It does so via analysis of two agrarian modernization programs for small farmers: the Research in Production Program and the Andean Crops Program, the first linked to the Mexican International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and the second to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). These programs further illustrate a new trend in INIAP research, in relation to the initial phase since 1964 which had focused on responding to the needs of landowners and international research centers interested in conducting plant-breeding tests.