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Abstract
The bulk of this research report addresses the question of where commodity research should
be cited across IIAM’s ten agro-ecologies and four zonal research centers. As IIAM
decentralizes its scientific human resources to its four zonal center locations, it should not
lose sight of the primacy of the Northeast Zonal Research Center in both economic
importance and the potential for poverty reduction. Our analysis suggests that the Northeast
Zonal Research Center contributes about 40% to value of commodity production and to
absolute poverty alleviation. The temptation is that too many resources are allocated to the
South Zonal Research Center because the research infrastructure in the south is wider and
deeper than in the center and north of the country. If the three other zonal research centers
are to fulfill their promise, a few key facilities need to be rehabilitated and strengthened in the
center and north. The scarcity of research infrastructure is most constraining in the coastal
agroecologies, especially for rice.