The data gathered during the project are now available to improve and update existing industry-based models, to use in benefit-cost analyses to evaluate the net social benefits of past research projects, and to establish base information for appraising future research options.
These data are also available for benefit-cost analyses to evaluate the impacts of commodity grading programs and postharvest initiatives leading to product quality improvements. They will help researchers to gain a better understanding of gender relations within households, such as in labour use and distribution of revenues, to improve the prospects of success of research and extension among smallholders who produce cocoa and copra.
Researchers can also use the data to explore the opportunities for diversification within existing cocoa/coconut farming systems, especially those that arise from the introduction of improved production methods. They can also measure the dynamic effects on output and profitability of changing age structures of cocoa trees and coconut palms, and the economic impacts of interventions to improve or maintain yields of ageing trees and palms, and measure the dynamic effects on output and profitability of specific public investment programs, and cocoa and coconut replanting programs.
As well the researchers have the information to study the effects on output and profitability of the trend away from plantings on new land towards replanting of existing plantations as the amount of land available for new plantings becomes scarcer. They can also examine the effects of changes in input prices and cocoa and coconut output prices on the supply and profitability of smallholders. Another area of interest is the impact on flexibility, risks faced and profitability in cocoa and coconut production when smallholders shift to a more commercial basis as they adopt improved technologies and rely more heavily on purchased inputs.
These outcomes are enabling measurement of the technical inefficiency of smallholder production, with a view to understanding the factors that influence the level of technical efficiency achieved by a particular farm household (with implications for the effectiveness of extension efforts). Finally they are enabling assessment of the impacts on cocoa and copra production of rural savings and credit programs.